Park board reviews draft Cullen Nature Preserve master plan; residents raise safety, accessibility and funding concerns

Minnetonka — The Minnetonka Park Board on Aug. 6 reviewed a draft master plan for the 30-acre Cullen Nature Preserve that lays out conceptual parking, trails, boardwalks, interpretive signage and restoration goals and is open now for public comment.

The plan, presented by Matt Kumpka, Park and Trail Project Manager, proposes a modest roadside parking area on Oakland Road with five vehicle stalls plus one ADA space, an accessible compacted-granite trail to select overlooks, a network of earthen footpaths, and two boardwalk segments extending into cattail wetlands. Kumpka said the master plan is intended to “provide resident access to experience these native plant communities” while maintaining the site’s conservation-focused character.

Why it matters: the site is protected by a conservation easement held by the Minnesota Land Trust and was donated to the city with conditions that limit development; the planning choices will be folded into the easement and guide restoration and public access. The plan also identifies a roughly $700,000 preliminary cost estimate for trails, parking and related work, while the city’s capital improvement program (CIP) currently lists about $200,000 over two years. Kumpka said the city’s LCCMR (Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources) grant request was denied and staff will pursue other grants and CIP discussion with the City Council.

Master-plan context and conservation terms

Kumpka told the board the property was held under a conservation easement with the Minnesota Land Trust since February 2005, has been owned by the city since 2015 and that active restoration work began in 2022. He said the easement allows limited improvements such as parking, trails, benches and signage, and that the Land Trust performs annual inspections and has reviewed versions of the draft plan.

“We want to use the potential design on-site to support these key partnerships with friends and other volunteer communities,” Kumpka said, noting the city hired Barr Engineering to assist with the plan and that the Friends of the Cullen Nature Preserve and Bird Sanctuary have been active partners in restoration and fundraising.

Public feedback, neighbors’ safety concerns and accessibility questions

Board members and the public asked several questions about accessibility, parking and public safety. One board member pressed whether the preserve could be more fully accessible rather than relying on a single accessible loop, citing topographic constraints and the extra earthwork and retaining structures that would be required to meet ADA slope standards. Kumpka said steep contours on the site limit how much accessible routing is practical without significant additional engineering.

Neighborhood residents who live along Crown Hill Lane told the board they support the preserve but are concerned about the location of a proposed northwest trail loop that would come close to several homes. Clara and Randy Circum, who live adjacent to the preserve, said they had reported a string of burglaries affecting several homes and that police told them burglars have used park edges and nearby rights-of-way to approach houses. They asked whether the trail alignment could be moved farther from back yards and whether additional border vegetation or other measures could reduce the potential for unauthorized access.

Kumpka and other staff acknowledged those concerns and said the plan and future detailed design will consider sightlines, trail placement and property edges. Kumpka said the north side of the site is a mixed deciduous forest and that restoration work there will remove invasive species but retain a tree canopy; he added that trail placement could be adjusted to avoid views directly into windows.

Volunteers and ecological outcomes

Gerald Grishon, president of the Friends of the Cullen Nature Preserve and Bird Sanctuary, described volunteer work at the site, hand-sowing native seed, garlic mustard removal and citizen-science monitoring. Grishon said spring bird surveys recorded progressive increases in species observed (from 36 in the baseline to 72 in recent counts) and noted that the group hopes to attract red-headed woodpeckers, a species dependent on oak savanna habitat.

Funding and timeline

Kumpka said Barr Engineering’s preliminary cost estimate for the full build-out of trails, parking and associated restoration elements was about $700,000; the city’s CIP currently includes $200,000 spread over two years. He said the LCCMR request for funding was denied and staff will pursue other grants, including Minnesota DNR legacy and regional or county sources, before returning a recommendation to the City Council. Staff said the draft master plan is posted on the Minnetonka Matters webpage for public comment and that the plan will come back to the Park Board as a final design and recommendation to council later this year.

No formal action

Kumpka and staff emphasized that the meeting was a review of a draft plan; the board did not take formal action or vote on the master plan at the Aug. 6 meeting. Kumpka said staff will collect public feedback and refine design details before returning the plan for board and council consideration.

What’s next

The city will continue outreach, pursue grant opportunities, refine the trail and parking concepts to respond to neighbor concerns about sightlines and safety, and advance construction documents only after funding and easement requirements are addressed. The Friends group said volunteers will continue restoration and monitoring work regardless of construction timing.

Ending note

The draft master plan and comment form are available on the Minnetonka Matters webpage; staff asked residents to submit written feedback through that portal during the public comment phase.