Nature Pre-School Back On Track?

The Board of Aldermen set a date to tour the Redwing Pond house at the Ansonia Nature Center — where a nature-based pre-school program is proposed. 

City leaders have been reluctant to get involved — but after pressure from the Nature Center leaders and the presentation of a feasibility study on the proposal, the tune was different this week.

I’d like to schedule a date to look at what they proposed so we can get moving on it,” Alderman Scott Nihill said at the Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday. I’d like to see what it’s all about.”

The tour will take place at 9 a.m. May 15. 

The Nature Center isn’t asking for money from the city, just an OK on the project so the Nature Center can use state money toward start-up costs. The Redwing Pond House is on city-owned land. 

Persistence

For months, members of the Friends of the Nature Center and Director Donna Lindgren have attended Board of Aldermen meetings and sent letters urging to the board to give a thumbs up for the pre-school proposal. 

Even though the Nature Center isn’t asking for money from the city right now, Acting Mayor Stephen Blume had expressed concerns about whether the city would be liable for future costs. 

The question of liability at the site was also a concern, Blume had said in a past interview. 

Feasibility Study

On Tuesday, the group presented a 10-page feasibility study on the project, which discusses legal issues and an analysis of the site and the Redwing Pond House building. 

The study — conducted by the president of a non-profit conservation organization Green Hearts — also addresses the potential customer-base for the pre-school.

The nature pre-school model is unique enough — and appealing enough — that some such pre-schools have drawn parents from over 45 minutes away,” the study states. 

The Friends of the Ansonia Nature Center said that a business plan will be presented to the Board of Aldermen in the next few weeks. 

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