Feature
The 145-acre Champlin Lloyd Farm is located southwest of the Ames city limits, adjacent to the current city boundary, along Dartmoor Road, north of Zumwalt Station Road and to the west of 520th Avenue. Screen clipping courtesy of Google Maps
“I feel like I have to do this. I have to protect this beautiful, unique place.” Christine Hausner launched a GoFundMe campaign, with a target goal of $1.9 million to in hopes of purchasing the Champlin Lloyd Farm, a 145-acre parcel that lies just southwest of the city limits. Photo by Nirmalendu Majumdar/Gannett
Ames woman is using GoFundMe to protect Worle Creek By Robbie Sequeira
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Gannett
s a young girl growing up in the unincorporated rural area southwest of Ames, Christine Hausner’s memories are flooded with towering 300-year-old oak trees, rows of picturesque acres of rolling farmland and timber and its “crown jewel,” Worle Creek. “My favorite thing was to go down to the creek and find this big boulder in the middle of the creek and hop the shore to sit on this boulder,” said Hausner, whose family has lived in southwest Ames for more than 90 years. “I remember all this water rushing around everything, and my mom would ring this huge German cowbell. And when it was time for me to come in, that’s what we did. We grew up outside.” However, Hausner feels that the preliminary conversations of urban development and annexation in the southwest area could affect not only the unique rural way-of-life for Washington Township residents, but also the environment. It’s the impetus for Hausner’s crowd funding campaign, via GoFundMe, to raise $1.9 million to purchase the Champlin Lloyd Farm, a 145-acre parcel that lies just southwest of the city limits. The property is located southwest of the corporate limits of the city of Ames, immediately adjacent to the current city boundary, along Dartmoor Road, north of Zumwalt Station Road and to the west of 520th Avenue. In January, the Ames City Council decided on a 4-2 vote to shelve an annexation request by Champlin Farm property owners. The property owners were unable to be reached for comment,
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but realtor Paul Livingston said there is no pending residential development of the Champlin Lloyd Farm. However, the fundraising effort, Hausner said, can ensure environmental protections for Worle Creek, which would be used for storm sewer drainage, if residential development took place. “If urban development occurs, the city plans for Worle Creek to be used for storm sewer drainage,” said Hausner, who started the campaign a week ago. “The city and developers don’t see what we see, smell what we smell, and hear what we hear every day. I am trying to preserve this area so that my son and hopefully grandchildren have the opportunity to grow up the way that my brother and I did, and how my dad and uncle did.” Hausner has raised more than $1,500 so far, and she said that if she cannot raise funds or a lower offer is not accepted by the seller — she will refund 100 percent of the donations. “Even if 200,000 people donate just $10, we can do this,” she said. “I feel like I have to do this. I have to protect this beautiful, unique place.” The decision to shelve the request is heavily factored by the city council’s decision to forgo Ames Plan 2040 expansion in the area and the soon-to-expire Ames Urban Fringe Plan. “With the Ames 2040 Plan and the Urban Fringe Plan both up for consideration, I’m not interested in considering the annexation of anything currently in our fringe areas without understanding more about how those two plans will turn out,” said council member Gloria Betcher.
