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University of Minnesota,” Inderrieden wrote the Council of what lay behind her passion for the Dunes. “I share this because I want to be clear that (what follows) are not ramblings but educated statements about the risks and value at play with this property and its true uniqueness and critical value economically, ecologically and culturally,” she wrote as a concerned private citizen. Wishing to make clear that she wasn’t and isn’t against development, Inderrieden acknowledged the potential value of land for development and housing, but nonetheless questioned the advisability of widespread development within the fragile environment of lower Grey Cloud Island along the Mississippi River.

“There is a place for building homes, retail and infrastructure to support a growing community,” Inderrieden wrote the Council in a letter dated for May 17 of this year. “The Mississippi Dunes property is NOT one of these. The Mississippi Dunes property is a natural resource, a gem, and a unique cultural and ecological amenity that the city has one chance to protect before it’s gone forever,” she shared. So what’s so special about the Mississippi Dunes, put into specifics?

For one thing, there are the archeological sites nearby.

Lower Grey Cloud Island is home to the Schilling Acheological Site, which includes several Native American sites and mounds from before European contact, counted in the double digits. For another r, there’s the environmental backstory for the site.

“Ecologically, this property is extremely unique in the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area (which runs from Ramsey, MN to just south of Hastings, MN) and along the entire Mississippi River from Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana,” she said of Mississippi Dunes. “This property consists of 185 acres of ancient sand dunes that developed thousands of years ago and matured over that time to have healthy vegetation and oak groves survive and thrive, which is not a small feat for a dune.” At the same time, Inderrieden wrote that, “A very active line of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway bisects the property and frequent trains rumble through, which has caused grassland fires over the years as sparking fly off the tracks. This has resulted in healthy, regularly rejuvenated grassland habitat for the species that depend on it,” Inderrieden wrote. Whereas the Mississippi Dunes Golf Course was closed in 2017 after a lawsuit against the then owner for employee harassment, the question at hand presently has more to do with land use, and the future.

Currently, Hazel P. Mooers Park on Grey Cloud Trail South does offer access to Mooers Lake (along with City kayak rentals), but the small number of car parking spaces (just two) and its relatively small triangular area along a two-lane road with limited bridge traffic raise the question as to whether Mooers Park itself and alone can truly meet the river access needs of a whole community that reaches into the tens of thousands—and meeting river access is precisely where Inderrieden is hoping that a property like the old Mississippi Dunes Golf Links can come in. River access, after all, is one of the City’s stated aims in its Comprehensive Plan.

“The City of Cottage Grove abuts one of the major waterway transportation routes in the metro and midwestern regions,” the Cottage Grove Comprehensive Plan for 2040 states. “The Mississippi River borders the southern portion of Cottage Grove and is the only transportation waterway that affects Cottage Grove. Its accessibility to other regions and waterways make it a valuable asset to the total transportation system of the City.” As such, it would seem that Mississippi River access like that offered by Mississippi Dunes should be snapped up the city—but that hasn’t happened as of yet. Enter complexity, and nuance. Back in May, Site developer Eric Wandersee appeared before the Cottage Grove Council during Public Forum to make his case for why the Mississippi Dunes could still work for homes.

“We want to use all local excavations, sewer, road, and tradesmen, on this project,” Wandersee said in Public Forum during the May 19 Council meeting, while the city allowing for the site to be developed would also make it possible for area residents to upgrade their housing through use of a local builder rather than a national construction agency, a choice that residents didn’t otherwise have at present, Wandersee said. The prospective site developer also acknowledged roadblocks to his company in developing the site, including a relatively high site cost, expectation for almost two miles of road maintenance on his part by the city, and the question of a $600,000 fee for stormwater basins, which fee Wandersee said was made unnecessary because of his work with a “water solutions expert team,” along with the fact that a homeowner’s association or ‘HOA’ would maintain the stormwater and sewer ponds after being built, rather than Cottage Grove.

“I kindly and respectfully ask the city to reconsider this fee,” Wandersee said of the sewer and water runoff fee that made development difficult on his end, back in May. Wandersee faced off with five other speakers at the May 19 Public Forum, two of whom were Inderreiden and Grams.

Shifting back to the change.org petition and prior letter by Inderrieden to the city, there were costs the city would likely incur if it chose to develop the Mississippi Dunes site.

“Though some costs of redevelopment may be taken on by the property owner and/or their developer, many of those costs will be the City of Cottage Grove’s responsibility, so developing this property comes at a significant cost to the city,” Inderrieden made known. “Key infrastructure upgrades to the property, such as city sewer and water systems, electrical network extensions, curb, drainage and street lighting will all be costs the city would incur in order to develop this property into homes.”

In addition to costs on the city’s part if Mississippi Dunes were to be developed as it is currently in process to be, there were also potential remediation costs to consider.

“This site is also a likely remediation site that will require formal remediation efforts by the city if it were to be developed,” the concerned resident wrote to the Council last May. “The Scientific and Natural Area directly to the east of the property is a known site of illegal dumping of hazardous waste decades ago by neighboring business. As a result, there are high levels of soil contamination making development of that land very expensive and detrimental to the health of the local water supply, including drinking water, and the health of the surrounding ecosystem. Though unfortunate, it is a truth we must face that the best recourse for hazardous contamination of this kind is to leave it in place, untouched,” Inderrieden shared. “That wasn’t all, though.

“It is equally important to recognize that this property was most recently operated as a golf course,” she wrote of the Mississippi Dunes site. “Golf courses are notoriously contaminated by hazardous pollutants toxic to human health,” Inderrieden shared. “In particular, golf courses often use fertilizers and fungicides to maintain their greenways that contain arsenic, mercury and chromium. If this property were to be developed at all (meaning soil would be disturbed significantly), these toxins would need to be remediated in addition to anything found in the above situation, and those costs are typically borne by the city,” she wrote.

As support to back up her golf course assertion, Inderrieden shared a weblink from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture at the following web address: https://www.mda.state. mn.us/sites/default/files/inline- files/golfcoursecontamination. pdf Aiding the cause to petition for a change of grievances in regards to city plans for Mississippi Dunes, Inderrieden’s friend and neighbor Christine Fugate- Grams laid out reasons for the Mississippi Dunes site to be a park.

“The MN DNR, Friends of the Mississippi, SISU Environmental Elementary School, private investors, and Grey Cloud Island neighbors, all believe Mississippi Dunes should be a nature center for education and recreation for the community,” Fugate-Grams wrote the Council. “The city wants to spend millions of tax dollars to build on a toxic waste site for housing, when there are many locations throughout the city that would be much less expensive to develop. Housing can go anywhere, whereas Mississippi Dunes offers a unique opportunity, that is widely supported, for a self-sustaining public nature center and riverside park, for very little to no impact on taxpayers,” she wrote.

Shifting into attributes of the site that make it a natural park choice, Fugate-Grams had more to say on why Mississippi Dunes should be saved from development.

“This property offers a unique blend of uninterrupted scenic views of Mooers Lake, historic Grey Cloud Island, provides Mississippi River access and opportunities for hours of kayaking, paddle boarding, and fishing in the surrounding backwaters of Grey Cloud Channel, Baldwin Lake, and Upper and Lower Mooers Lake, with a picnic stop at Joseph LaBathe’s Settler’s Island,” she wrote. “The land itself has a unique blend of Minnesota timber, savannah, prairie, and natural sand dunes, providing contiguous habitat with the Grey Clouds SNA, and has become a refuge for a high diversity of natural wildlife including many endangered and threatened species. It is due to this varied landscape that a vast number of different species of animals can be observed and with its connection with the Mississippi flyway, this property is a unique treasure to be preserved. Existing trails can be used for hiking, running, cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing, biking, marathons, charity events, organized learning events such as birding tours and can be used by public schools for many different types of education.

Closing out her case for why the city should reconsider its current plans, Fugate- Grams paid tribute to Theodore Wirth, a man with vision to have preservation made a focus, and park space central to city life.

“I see this as a park very similar to Theodore Wirth Park, a 759-acre urban regional park in Minneapolis, with an emphasis on access for the community that receives thousands of visitors every month,” she wrote. “Theo Wirth had the foresight over one hundred years ago to plan that every home should be within 6 blocks of a park in Minneapolis and that all lakes should have public access. Why? Because nature is one of Minnesota’s greatest resources, and access to green spaces is scientifically proven to lower blood pressure, increase health, build family memories, and has been proven to lead to more successful people,” she wrote. “Today, over 90 percent of these parks still exist, which is a clear testament to their value. Every house that borders these parks sell for $100,000+ more than houses a few blocks over. This model can easily be incorporated… into Cottage Grove’s plan for development which could be hundreds more homes elsewhere in the city than what is currently planned for Mississippi Dunes. By having this public nature-based park in Cottage Grove, the other homes in the city would be worth more, which would add to the greater tax base because people are willing to pay more to live in a city with public water access and not just inaccessible waterfront invisible behind the backs of private homes.” So if the city does decide to change course, who might help provide the cash to purchase the Dunes?

One such organization (alongside private donors) is Friends of the Mississippi, represented at the May Public Forum meeting by one Colleen O’Connor-Toberman.

“Friends of the Mississippi River sent you a longer letter yesterday,” O’Connor- Toberman told the Council in May. With sentiment at a city parks and recreation meeting that a potential 15 to 20 acre park was too small, the much larger Mississippi Dunes site was a better option, and Friends of the Mississippi was willing to help purchase the site, alongside private donors.

“Few communities get that opportunity,” O’ Connor- Toberman told the Cottage Grove Council. “It’s very rare,” she said, urging the city to reconsider its plan to develop Mississippi Dunes as housing.

The Mississippi River beckons from across the field at Grey Cloud Island Scientific and Natural Area. Save for the railroad, the site is largely devoid of development. Photo by Joseph Back.

This grasshopper helps provide natural charm to Grey Cloud, and food for non-poisonous blue racer snakes.Photo by Joseph Back.

Just across the parking lot from Grey Cloud Island, a housing development is on the rise. With public river access deemed important to the City’s Comprehensive Plan, the question of land use becomes imperative. Photo by Joseph Back.