Building Community Connections
A Conversation with Gail LewellanAbout three years ago, Gail Lewellan remembers receiving a call from a neighborhood friend, asking her to attend an important city council meeting. The main agenda item was to discuss the future of a place called Pilot Knob, a prominent hill located at the east end of the Mendota Bridge, south of Highway 55 in Mendota Heights. She had never visited Pilot Knob, but it sounded important. Known in the Dakota language as Oheyawahi, meaning the hill much visited, Pilot Knob is the site of historic treaty signings and has sacred significance to the Dakota Native American community. It is a burial place, and is known for its natural beauty and migratory bird populations.
Gail Lewellan
Photo by Joshua Houdek.
An Open Space Treasure
Gail Lewellan and many others now know Pilot Knob as an open space treasure. Overlooking the confluence of the mighty Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, the area offers some of the most spectacular views in the region. But, in recent years, the future of Pilot Knob was threatened by the construction of a 157-unit condominium development.
After quickly realizing the environmental, historical, and spiritual importance of Pilot Knob, Gail came to the conclusion that "it's just wrong to develop an area that is so significant! She believes the community should be proud of this resource, by not developing it and instead protecting it for future generations to enjoy.
Building Community Support
Gail reports that one of the best things she did was simply to talk to people. She met with neighbors and educated herself about the natural and cultural history of Pilot Knob. She got in touch with members of the Mdewakanton-Dakota community, historians, environmentalists, religious leaders, legislators, local officials, teachers, university professors, and many others. People should not build residences, she thought, on a site sacred to Native Americans.
The chair of the Metropolitan Airports Commission opposed condominium development on Pilot Knob because he knew occupants would soon be complaining about the noise generated by airline traffic over their new homes.
“It's just wrong to
develop an area that
is so significant!”
Gail assisted with a citizen effort to petition for an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW), which the City of Mendota Heights ordered in January 2003. An EAW is a brief document that is designed to rapidly assess the environmental effects that may be associated with a proposed project. After this assessment was completed, the city ordered an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which is a more detailed study that would identify and explain all the prospective impacts of the development. Once being ordered to do an EIS, the developer responded by suing the City of Mendota Heights. While the lawsuit was tied up in the courts, Gail and others went to work on a long-range plan to preserve Pilot Knob.
The Pilot Knob Preservation Association
To help educate the public, raise funds for advocacy work, and provide a central entity for networking and information, Gail and other citizens created the Pilot Knob Preservation Association (PKPA). Gail was chosen to be president of the group because she has spent her career in natural resource management, was a resident of Mendota Heights, is an effective spokesperson, and seemed to be "the right person at the right time." The many compelling values of the site attracted people who dedicated time to volunteer and staff the organization including historians, Native American activists, and a Catholic nun. PKPA kept its growing mailing list advised of key events and suggested ways that individuals and groups could stay involved.
Early on, PKPA determined some of the tactics it would incorporate. The odds were stacked against them, with only one of the five Mendota Heights City Council members initially supporting preservation. The group felt that showing up to public meetings and protesting developers would not work by itself, so PKPA adopted a "collaboration versus confrontation" approach. To be constructive participants in the land-use decision-making process, they needed to find an effective solution to protect Pilot Knob. The group decided the best way to save Pilot Knob was to convince the city to buy the property. PKPA's main strategy was to work with key supporters to raise public awareness and public funding. They worked closely with the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a nonprofit land conservation organization that had already identified the site as important, and ultimately negotiated the purchase.
Drew Smith (far right), an expert birder,
talks about the history of Pilot Knob at
a Sierra Club outing.
Photo by Joshua Houdek.
Public Education and Outreach
PKPA sought to gather information and present it in a non-confrontational way. The group tabled at community events, sponsored lectures and a photographic exhibit, and distributed literature at community events and by mail. In 2004, the Sierra Club featured Pilot Knob in its Citizens Guide to Endangered Green Space, which also helped bring attention to the issue. By building community support and educating the public about the need to protect Pilot Knob, funding was gradually secured from the Environmental Trust Fund, Dakota County Farmland and Natural Areas Project, Metro Greenways, the Minnesota DNR's Remediation Fund Grant Program, and TPL. On October 18, 2005, the City Council voted to purchase and restore 8.5 acres of the hill much visited.
Final Thoughts
"Don't underestimate your resources," Gail stresses to other community activists. "Gather all the groups and individuals with a stake in the outcome and identify the right role for each one. Then form a common vision of the end result and implement a strategy to make it happen!"