Conservation board taps brakes on Denning property changes

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

HOUGHTON - A mysterious trust has cropped up surrounding the management of the Denning Conservation property about two miles from Houghton.

At Tuesday's regular meeting of the Lee County Conservation Board about 25 people showed up to advocate that the board detour from plans to turn the property into conservation land.

Plans included demolishing at least one barn on the property, turning a section into conservation land with native Iowa prairie, and not replacing a playground that Eleanor Denning personally funded when its useful life has ended.

However, LCCD director Heather Huebner said in the past few weeks information has come to light about the trust that was established to maintain the playground.

Melissa Peitz addressed the board on behalf of preserving the property, and said her information indicated there was about $85,000 in it. Huebner said according to information she's received, the fund is supposed to have about $77,000 in it.

Huebner said appointments have been set in the next week with attorneys to sort out the accounting of the trust.

Board president Tom Pollpeter said in his 11 years as part of the Conservation Foundation board and the Conservation board this was the first he'd heard of the trust.

He said the Denning improvements, that have to be approved by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, have been part of the board's plans for five years. The DNR owns the Denning property, as a result of Eleanor Denning deeding it to the state. The Lee County Conservation District manages the property for the estate.

"This is the first I've ever heard of that trust," Pollpeter said. "And as far as I know, no money has ever flowed from that trust to the foundation or this board."

Huebner said all activity around the property is now on hold pending action from the DNR's Natural Resources Commission, which meets Thursday.

Linda Pieper, whose family just celebrated 100 years in farming, said heritage is a source of pride in landowners and the property owned by Eleanor and Conrad Denning should be preserved. If it can't be, then maybe the state can sell it to the county.

Tammi Kircher, an NRC commissioner from Keokuk said the state isn't going to sell the property to the county because that would violate the wishes of Eleanor Denning when she passed away at the age of 108.

Kircher said at Thursday's meeting there will be a brief conversation about the property and the new information of the trust. She said she couldn't come up with an answer as to how the trust got missed.

"I have no idea," Kircher said after the meeting. "But no one knew about it."

Several area residents advocated for keeping the parking lot and at least one of the barns that has then state-of-the-art architecture and design.

Central Lee student Sydney Jones gave a presentation that included a pamphlet with photos of the playground and the barn.

Jones also asked if the property could be deeded over to the county.

"Then we could capitalize on the educational opportunities with the buildings just like these," she said.

She pointed out that one of the historic barns is built in such a way that it will stand up for another 100 years and it's already 100 years old.

Gail Thompson, the mayor of Houghton, said parts of the property are within the two-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction and they could help with the property. Thompson also asked where the funds from Eleanor Denning's funeral memorial ended up. The memorial was established for the conservation of the property.

Huebner said she would look into the memorial funding.

Paul Steffensmeier gave the most charming perspective on the property when he referenced Maurice Denning, who lived on the property from 1911-1918 as a child. Denning was born in Houghton in 1907 and was named Public Enemy No. 1 by J. Edgar Hoover after allegedly leading the "Ghost Gang" in multiple robberies of Nebraska banks, and bootlegging.