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A purchase agreement for Anoka County to buy 550 acres of property for park purposes along the Rum River and Cedar Creek has been approved by the Anoka County Board.

The purchase agreement with The Trust for Public Land, St. Paul, is split into two phases.

Under the agreement, closing on phase one, which comprises 212 acres plus nine acres which encompass easements, is scheduled to take place on or before March 26.

The price of the phase one purchase is $1.9 million, which will be paid for from money received by the county in the waning hours of the 2009 Minnesota Legislature when a bill was approved that included millions of dollars for park and open space projects which are funded through sales tax revenues resulting from the constitutional amendment passed by the voters in the November 2008 election.

As part of a $68 million package it recommended to and was passed by the Legislature, the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council, which was established by the Legislature to recommend how 33 percent of the sales tax revenues from the constitutional amendment should be spent, included $1.9 million for Anoka County to help it purchase the property east of the Rum River and north of Rum River Central Regional Park.

According to John VonDeLinde, county parks and recreation director, the county is scheduled to receive another $1.9 million from the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council for this park acquisition project in the council’s next funding cycle later this year.

But that amount won’t cover the entire cost of the phase two purchase, which, according to the agreement, comes with a $3 million price tag and a deadline for the county to obtain those funds - Dec. 30, 2010.

The county will be pursuing grant money from other sources to make up the $1.1 million balance, while bonding by the county for a portion of that amount is also an option under consideration, VonDeLinde said.

However, the agreement calls for The Trust for Public Land to help the county obtain the necessary funds.

But if the county has not come up with the remaining funds needed for the purchase by Dec. 30 and those dollars are not available to Trust for Public Lands by Jan. 25, 2011, then it will not acquire the phase two property from the current owner and the agreement with the county will terminate.

The Trust for Public Land is in the process of purchasing the property from BF9, LLC, the current owner, and approached the county with an offer of assistance when negotiations between the county and the owner had “stalled,” according to VonDeLinde said.

“The timing was perfect,” VonDeLinde said.

According to its Web site, the Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national, nonprofit, land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, community gardens, historic sites, rural lands and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come.

In a sense, the Trust for Public Land is acting as a conduit for the county’s purchase of the property from the current landowner as it has done for other agencies across the country seeking to preserve property for park and open space purposes, VonDeLinde said.

The 550 acres comprises several parcels in each phase and the Anoka County Highway Department plans to use 40 acres from the phase two purchase as a land bank for future mitigation in the event it acquires property for highway needs on which there are federal LAWCON (Land And Water Conservation Fund) restrictions requiring that the land be retained solely for outdoor recreation purposes.

According to VonDeLinde, a good portion of the property the county is acquiring is wetland with most of the rest marginal to develop at best.

The county plans are to create a conservation area rather than an active park, according to VonDeLinde.

The acreage includes wetland, 100-year flood plain, non-native forest, crop land, flood plain forest, grasses, marsh, oak forest, oak savanna, fen and wet meadow.

Much of it is in good shape, VonDeLinde said.

The county is planning to construct some trails and a parking lot on County Road 9 as well as provide fishing platforms along the Rum River, he said.

Right now, 220 acres is being leased to a farmer to grow corn, but the county is proposing to restore that land to native prairie, according to VonDeLinde.

The existing lease with the farmer will stay in place at least through 2010 or possibly longer if the county has not received grant dollars for the native prairie restoration.

The growing of corn is not incompatible with wildlife and native plants, VonDeLinde said.

“We are very pleased to be able to make this purchase,” he said. “This is a project we have been working on for almost three years.”

“We are excited about the first phase acquisition and to be able to start management and stewardship of the land.”

Anoka County Board Chairman Dennis Berg called the purchase “something of real value that can preserved for future generations.”

The park property lies in both Oak Grove and Andover with a small portion in Ramsey.

Peter Bodley is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it