A grassy patch hugging the Rum River in northwest Andover is among 130 acres of open, pristine space that will forever stay green because residents gave the city the money to buy it and shield it from development.
Now, eight and a half years after voters approved a $2 million bond request, that money is almost used up. With the funds slowly tapped to purchase land, the pot is down to $80,000.
Community Development Director David Carlberg said Andover can afford one more acquisition. Depending on whether it's in a rural or an urban area, the city could buy up to 10 additional acres, he said.
The bond request was approved in November 2006, with 54 percent of voters supporting it. Andover is one of more than 20 Twin Cities suburbs that have passed measures to preserve open spaces since the late 1980s, according to the Trust for Public Land.
"It says so much of strong values we all hold in terms of parks and natural lands, and investing in them," said Susan Schmidt, director of the Minnesota chapter of the trust.
After Andover voters approved the bond request, seven residents were appointed to a new Open Space Commission. Progress was slow at first, but because it came as development slowed sharply amid the troubled housing market, the commission had time to plan ahead.
The process of identifying and then buying undeveloped areas was deliberate. City officials had a biological survey of its open land done and ranked sites by types of habitat, plant and animal species and whether they were part of wildlife corridors. Other considerations were whether the land sheltered a waterway or rare or endangered plant and animal species.
City officials then sent letters to large land owners, many of whom expressed interest in selling property. The commission used its ranking system to decide which sites to buy.
