Inver Grove Heights again is considering what to do with River Heights Park, which was to be sold for residential development last summer before neighbors helped persuade city officials otherwise.
The city’s parks and recreation advisory commission tonight will consider whether to recommend to the city council that the 7.5-acre park be divided into three 2.5-acre lots and sold for single-family homes. The council is scheduled to discuss the matter at its May 7 work session.
In August, the city tabled the idea of selling all or part of the park, which is at 8780 Inver Grove Trail. The decision came after a petition opposing the idea was signed by 140 residents and presented to the parks commission, which then recommended to the council that the park be taken off a list of city properties that could be sold.
At the time, the nonprofit Friends of the Mississippi River also noted that the park lies within the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.
On Tuesday, Eric Carlson, parks and recreation director, cited four reasons for recommending that River Heights Park be sold:
- The park is undeveloped, made up of grass, trees and a looping half-mile dirt trail.
- It is surrounded by 2.5-acre lots.
- Pine Bend Bluffs Scientific and Natural Area is just south of the park.
- Among the city’s 28 parks, River Heights has the second-lowest number of people — 254 — who live within a 10-minute walk.
Carlson said talk of River Heights’ future was resurrected recently by the council, which has not heard both sides of the issue in a formal meeting.
River Heights Park is among 10 city-owned properties the council deemed “excess” land in 2016. Two additional parks — Marcott Woods, which is 14 acres, and Dehrer, 5.5 acres — also are on the list.
The last time the city sold parkland was in 2009, when Cameron Warehouse Liquors moved to a 1.3-acre park across the street as part of reconstruction and widening of Concord Boulevard.
Carlson said selling the park is just one of the options. Others, he said, include developing it with park amenities, a parking lot and a sign; selling it to a private party that would protect it as open space; and doing nothing.
Whatever city officials decide, they can expect more support to save the park. Of the 13 residents who attended a public information meeting the city held last week, Carlson said, none were in favor of selling it for homes or developing it.