LINCOLN — Native American activists were back protesting Monday at the site of a housing development planned near Wilderness Park, across the road from a location for sweat lodge ceremonies.

Lincoln police were called to the site after activists blocked equipment that began removing trees from the site Monday morning.

Tree removal work was at a standstill at the site of the Wilderness Crossing development by Monday afternoon. But protesters said they were told that tree-removal work will resume on Tuesday and that police will begin enforcing trespassing laws at that time.

About a dozen protesters were at the site Monday, after erecting a new tipi and protest camp early in the morning.

“We’re upset,” said Erin Poor, a spokeswoman with the Niskithe Prayer Camp, a protest camp erected in May (and later dismantled) to object to the proposed development.

Activists, Poor said, had expected that after a lawsuit filed by city was dismissed last week, a public hearing would be scheduled so an appeal could be heard of the development’s OK by the Lincoln Board of Zoning.

But Poor said that late Friday it was learned that no appeal hearing would be scheduled. With tree removal imminent, protesters re-established a tipi camp across the road and returned to the site.

She said the legal team working with the Niskithe Prayer Camp planned to meet later Monday to decide on next steps.

Lincoln City Attorney Yohance Christie issued a statement Monday afternoon indicating the city believes that court rulings last week affirmed their legal stance: that the city Board of Zoning Appeals is an “unelected board and does not have the jurisdiction to veto a decision made by the mayor or City Council.”

Christie continued, “Therefore, on Friday, the (Lincoln) Planning Department returned the application and previously paid (appeal) fee in the form of a check to the ACLU of Nebraska and indicated that this matter will not be heard by the Board of Zoning Appeals.”

The activists have protested the development, maintaining that it would disrupt sweat lodge ceremonies conducted across the road. They contend that the city failed to consider that, as well as impacts on flooding in the area, in granting permission for the development.

Officials with Manzitto Construction maintain they have followed all city rules in gaining an OK and have made concessions to create a buffer between the housing and the sweat lodge site.

Plans for Wilderness Crossing include 162 single-family homes, 134 townhomes and 205 apartment units.

Some commercial space is planned on the property, which was cropland that the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln sold to the developer.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.