Indian Creek Nature Center wants 78 acres of city-owned land

CEDAR RAPIDS - Indian Creek nature center wants to acquire 78 acres of city land for free that it currently leases for $1 a year and has managed for the city since 1973.

John Myers, the center's executive director, said Monday that the center's request to the city comes in conjunction with the nature center's plan to start construction in April on its new $5.9 million, 12,000-square-foot home.

The center is calling the project and fundraising campaign for it 'Amazing Space.”

The facility will sit on land now owned by the nature center, but the parking lot, driveway, a new sugar maple house and other features will take up a portion of the 78 acres generally north of Otis Road SE and west of Bertram Road SE that the center wants to acquire.

Under its lease with city, the nature center is permitted to build on the city land, but Myers said acquiring the land now as the nature center is making such a significant investment there would protect the center should the city terminate the lease sometime in the future.

He said the city's Parks and Recreation Department has responded positively to the nature center's request.

The City Council's Development Committee is slated to take up the matter at its meeting on Wednesday.

On Monday, council member Monica Vernon, the committee's chairwoman, said the city has had a 'great” relationship with the nature center over many years, a relationship that has introduced a love for nature year-round to many, many thousands of children and adults, she said.

'Certainly, we're willing and very interested in working with them and are open to what they need and what they would like,” Vernon said.

She said the nature center's new $6-million project will be a 'very green” structure in a place near the confluence of Indian Creek and the Cedar River where the city has not had any plans to see development occur.

Myers said both the nature center and city park officials agree that any property acquisition by the center would include a stipulation that the property revert to the city should the nature center close for some reason.

'We really both want to protect this land from development,” Myers said. 'Green space on the southeast side of town is so important, and losing green space anywhere in town, especially in this area, is not something we want to advocate for.”

According to a city staff report to the City Council, the city purchased the 78 acres in question in May 1968 for $52,000.

Myers said the nature center is asking the city to donate the property to the non-profit center. At the same time, he said the city does get benefits from the center. It is identified in the city's Parks and Recreation Master Plan as the sole provider of outdoor education in and for the city, he said.

Myers said the 78 acres that the nature center wants to acquire is part woodland and part prairie, and the prairie is property the center has worked to restore since the 1980s. The majority of the center's trail system runs through the 78 acres, too.

'Almost every day we have hikers and school kids and people who are coming out and learning in this environment,” he said. 'It's a core part of our mission.

'And the overall purpose of the land will not change if the ownership changes. It will still be part of what we do every day.”

The nature center owns 126 acres and leases 164 acres from the city.

City-owned land at the nature center through which the Sac and Fox Trail runs as well the site of the barn that is now home to the center will remain in city hands under the center's acquisition proposal.

Myers said the barn is in need of repair, and one option for its future might be as a trail hub where canoes, kayaks, bicycles and cross-country skis might be rented, he said.

The nature center currently has raised more than $5 million for its new $5.9-million building. The organization's capital campaign hopes to raise a total of $6.9 million, $1 million of which would serve as an endowment for the center.

The new facility, slated to open in the second quarter of 2016, is being designed with solar panels and other sustainable features so that it produces more energy than it needs to operate, Myers said.

The city's current lease with the nature center runs through June 30, 2051.

The nature center is among non-profit organizations that receive annual revenue from the city's hotel-motel tax. In the current fiscal year, the center is receiving $39,500.