Politics & Government

Caponi Art Park Preservation Efforts Hit Speed Bump

Park proponents hoped state grant funding would enable the city to purchase a portion of the park for preservation.

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For decades, Eagan resident Tony Caponi has worked to preserve Caponi Art Park, a 57-acre artistic and educational platform situated among rolling, wooded hills in the heart of Eagan.

Caponi's long pursuit of that goal has given the 91-year-old a certain amount of perspective and patience—especially when the park preservation effort hits a bump in the road.

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In March, Eagan city officials applied to two separate Minnesota Department of Natural Resources grant programs for $400,000 in funding. That money was to be the lynchpin of a roughly $1.2 million public funding package that would allow the city of Eagan to purchase a portion of the park for preservation.

But last week, Caponi and Eagan city staff learned the city had not been selected by as a grant funding recipient by either program. The setback that has park, city and county officials re-exploring their options, but has not diminished Caponi's optimism.

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“We are not discouraged," Caponi said. "The fact that we didn’t get [the grants], that’s what happens, those are the odds."

Although preservation efforts date back to the early days of the park, the city of Eagan first acquired a 30-acre portion of the park in 2005. An additional 17.9 acres of the park are protected by a conservation easement that prohibits development, while the remainder—roughly nine acres including Caponi's home and studio—do not have an easement.

If the city's grant application had been approved, the city and Dakota County would each have contributed as much as $400,000 in matching funds to allow the city to purchase the remaining 27 acres of land. The nonprofit Caponi Art Park Board has also pledged $200,000 in private fundraising dollars.

If the purchase went through, the city would own the park but allow the park board to continue managing the property, Eagan Parks and Recreation Director Juli Seydell Johnson said. Funding for the city's contribution would likely be drawn from the Park Systems Development and Renewal and Replacement Fund.

Just because the city didn't receive the DNR grants doesn't necessarily mean the city will withdraw its support for the park preservation, Seydell Johnson said. But the direction city officials take will need to be determined by the Eagan City Council, Seydell Johnson noted.

Likewise for Dakota County, which also promised as much as $400,000 in matching funding contingent upon the DNR grant money.

"I think the county and the city continue to be interested in trying to proect that piece of property," Dakota County Farmland and Natural Areas Program Manager Al Singer said. "I think what we have to do is go back and explore what options there are to take care of that funding gap."

The Caponis hope a planned fundraising drive may help fill some of that gap. But Caponi, who bought and began restoring the park site in 1949, is confident that other opportunities will come along.

"[The park] is here because we waited, we insisted and sacrificed, we worked and we enjoyed it," Caponi said. "We’re going to stay positive."


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