A large swath of land in Inver Grove Heights made up of rolling woodlands and an 18-acre lake is one step closer to being off-limits to developers for good.
A $3.9 million deal struck this month between Dakota County and Grannis family members puts nearly 109 acres owned by the Grannis family into the county’s Farmland and Natural Areas Program.
On Tuesday, the county board voted 5-2 to spend $2.9 million in state Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage funds and no more than $1,015,000 in county funds to acquire the conservation easement. Commissioners Mary Liz Holberg and Liz Workman voted no after raising concerns about cost and public accessibility.
The easement agreement allows county residents to use the property through programs and classes offered by Darvan Acres Outdoor Skills and Environmental Center, a nonprofit established by property owner Vance Grannis Jr.
For eight years, the Grannis family has been working with county officials to protect the land, which is south of Minnesota 55 and stretches from South Robert Trail on the west to Barnes Avenue on the east.
Talks heated up late last year after an appraisal to determine a fair market value, and continued in private negotiations and public testimony that led to a series of offers and counter-offers.
“This is a step forward,” Grannis said after Tuesday’s commissioner meeting, which he did not attend.
Grannis, an Eagan lawyer who was the first mayor of Inver Grove Heights from 1965 to 1968, noted how the deal is contingent on the Outdoor Heritage Council reallocating $1.3 million already appropriated to the county by the state Legislature in 2012. The council is scheduled to take up the county’s request at its June 29 meeting.
The Department of Natural Resources also must review and validate the county’s appraisal, said Al Singer, the county’s land-conservation manager.
If approved, this will be the most the county has paid for a conservation easement in its Farmland and Natural Areas Program, which began in 2002 after voters approved spending $20 million to preserve select land from willing sellers.
The Grannis property includes the largest lake within the Marcott chain of lakes, as well as high-quality woodlands, wetlands, grasslands and agricultural land.
The Marcott chain and associated upland were identified as important natural areas in a farmland and natural areas protection plan adopted by the county board in 2002.
The county acquired a 16.8-acre easement on the Grannis family property in 2011 and a 103-acre easement on the adjacent Lindberg family property in 2012.
The latest Grannis easement agreement includes a 1,500-square foot educational building with a designated area for building and educational facility, but not the seven-acre homestead property that includes Vance and Darlene’s home, two barns and 200 feet of shoreline.
It also gives the county the exclusive option to purchase the nearly 126 acres of Grannis land under the two easements within eight years at no cost except the cost of the educational buildings, as well as the homestead property by 2076.