Star Tribune Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:45:04 GMT
In Lilydale, a small plot of land is causing a big fuss
The city wants to sell the land, donated by a former city leader. But some insist the man who donated it wanted it kept as open space, and the dispute is far from over. In the tiny city of Lilydale, a lonely for-sale sign swings in a harsh winter wind, beckoning to a diminutive forest alongside Sibley Memorial Highway. It's here, at this postage-stamp plot of land, that a king-sized dispute festers. The city's attempted sale of these little woods above the Mississippi River -- donated nearly 30 years ago by a Lilydale businessman intent on preserving it as open space -- has so far fallen flat. Nobody's made an offer on the .85-acre property, reduced in price to $279,900, but the controversy over its sale has made it the most talked-about property in Lilydale, population 736. Longtime resident Lucille Collins said that John M. Thompson donated the land to the city intending that it be preserved as a bird sanctuary. "It was really meant for the people, not to be sold," she said. Mayor Tom Swain wants the land sold to pay off a city debt of $230,000. "It has no useful purpose to the city," he said. "This bird sanctuary stuff, that's ludicrous."
[[keywords: LandUse;Metro;]]
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