Lincoln to explore new options for disc golf course

Lincoln City Council made a decision at its Tuesday meeting to explore options for a disc golf course outside of the Auburn Ravine. For the past few months, community members have voiced their concerns about the idea of having a disc golf course in the Auburn Ravine's nature preserve in Lincoln. A petition on change.org has almost 1,000 signatures from individuals who agreed to "say no to disc golf and any other sport in the Auburn Ravine Nature Preserve." The nature preserve is in Lincoln Crossing. Although Lincoln City Council and Lincoln City Manager Sean Scully have previously said that a disc golf course is not currently in the works at the preserve, they never took official measures to back up their statements until Tuesday's meeting. "It was interesting that at the last meeting (March 15), the mayor was trying to get the council to assure us that the nature preserve would not be the site of the disc golf. He could not get any sort of movement on that," said Marcia Schnapp, a Friends of Lincoln Crossing Nature Preserve member, during the City Council's public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting. Friends of Lincoln Crossing Nature Preserve is a group dedicated to protecting the preserve, according to its website at auburnravine.org. "This is a legally-protected preserve. You can't just willy-nilly site a disc golf there," Schnapp said. Schnapp read aloud portions of what she said was the latest revised version of the operations and management document from the Army Corp of Engineers. Schnapp said it entails policies regarding nature preserves, which restricts building in a protected preserve. She said that the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Committee didn't have the most recent document so she left a copy with the council. Over the past few months, new Councilman Ben Brown has observed the controversy over a disc golf being built at the Auburn Ravine as it started before he took office. At the March 15 meeting, Brown requested more information about the potential project. This week, he took a stance. "I really think the disc golf could be very inexpensive to put together. I think you should take 'at Auburn Ravine Park' completely out of the title and just put 'disc golf' and explore locations to put that in," Brown said to Scully. "I don't think the Auburn Ravine is the place for that." He was referring to the title of the Parks and Recreation project list description, which currently reads, "Disc Golf at Auburn Ravine Park." Lincoln Mayor Paul Joiner said the council is supportive of a disc golf course in Lincoln and that the best place would be in new development to prevent encroaching upon residential areas or commercial zones. Councilman Bill Lauritsen agreed. Councilwoman Holly Andreatta also agreed to remove "Auburn Ravine" from the project name but said she wanted to be clear on her reasons why. "With all due respect to those of you who have protested and gave your opinions about it, the reason I'm agreeing to take the Auburn Ravine off is because of nature and the atmosphere there. We don't want to harm the area," Andreatta said. "I'm not doing this because you paid $30,000 extra to the developer for your view. You don't own that view. It's public land and I don't mean to be disrespectful but you don't own that view. You didn't pay the money to the city, you paid it to the developers who probably shouldn't have told you that nothing would be there." She added that a disc golf course "is not development. It's not building." The council agreed unanimously to send a message to Lincoln Parks and Recreation to look at other options for a disc golf course in Lincoln besides the Auburn Ravine. In other news Lincoln Police and Fire Department Public Safety Chief Matt Alves presented a summary of the 2022 activity of the Police and Fire Departments, including statistics, trends, staffing, and the outlook for 2023. He talked about employee wellness. "I'm really happy we can talk about this (mental health) in our industry now," Alves said. "For my whole career, we didn't talk about it or ask 'are you OK' or say 'that one bothered me.' Then you wind up being someone like me who's been in the industry for 24 years who wakes up and wonders 'why am I feeling like this'. You realize it's because of all of the trauma you've incurred over the years and you didn't off load it in a healthy way." Alves said that he's "not ashamed to say I have received help over the years and that it's been very beneficial." Advocating for the police and fire staff, Alves proposed allocating more budget funds to increase resources for employee wellness. Alves added that his goal is to "reduce the stigma of wellness, therapists and barricades that get in between an employee and getting the help they need." Lincoln City Council declared April to be Child Abuse Prevention Month and recognized KidsFirst for its efforts in prevention of child abuse. Joiner read aloud a city proclamation that stated in part "all adults and caregivers have a responsibility, as neighbors, community members and citizens of the community to help create a healthy, safe and nurturing environment for children and youth."