In Eagan, a fight between Wensmann Realty and the City of Eagan has been ongoing since about 2004 when Wensmann filed suit against the city for an attempt to snap up the land previously used by the defunct Carriage Hills Golf Course after rezoning it as park land.

According to this article in the Pioneer Press, the Minnesota Supreme Court returned the case back to the lower courts saying that it would be permissible for Eagan to rezone the land as parkland if there was no reasonable way for the developer to generate revenue from the land. Well, considering that plenty of other developers and cities are having issues developing on land prepped for building, I can certainly see how Eagan would come out on top here. Unfortunately, the Eagan City Council caved and decided to enter an agreement where they would put it up for taxpayer vote in November. One resident just doesn’t understand how the land could be valued at 10.25 million dollars:

Dan Bailey, a neighbor of the golf course who has long opposed its development, wonders how the land came to be valued at $10 million. He thinks the price will prevent Eagan voters from protecting the site, which is no longer an operating golf course.

Bailey thinks he’ll probably vote against the referendum, so community members can once again persuade the City Council to turn down the development and go back to court.

“The deal is great in the sense that the people get to make the choice,” Bailey said, “but it’s bad in that both choices are bad for the people.”

Bailey is spot on here. The value of land, especially due to the fact that no one can turn a profit after developing on it anyway, has dropped significantly since this argument began over 4 years ago. While I don’t agree with Bailey’s assessment that voters should reject it outright and hope that Eagan takes the developer back to court, I think that the land is way overvalued and that the Eagan City Council made a big mistake by agreeing to these terms. With the economy the way it is and the fact that it’s only going to get worse as November rolls around, I’m not quite sure that this was the way to go about recapturing this land for green space.

The public has an opportunity to offer the City their input at two public meetings coming up in July. Meetings are scheduled for 6 PM Tuesday, July 15th, at the Eagan Community Center, and 6 PM July 29th in the Eagan Room at Eagan City Hall. Check the City of Eagan’s website information about the open houses here.

If you are a City of Eagan resident, what would you rather see? The possibility of nearly 500 empty homes sitting on a 120 acre plot that costs nothing except the knowledge that those houses may not fill for at least several years or the possibility of empty space never to be filled which cost the taxpayers of Eagan over $10 million? Perhaps you’d prefer what Dan Bailey suggests and force the issue back to the courts and hope to get the land for free. What if you lived in another city, what would you prefer your city council to do in this situation?

There has been plenty of press coverage about this topic since I began paying attention back in March and I took some bits and pieces from articles not linked above from many of these including this article (at Thisweek Live), this article (StarTribune), and also this article with pictures (Thisweek Live).

Related posts:

1. South Metro News Roundabout: December 6th, 2008
2. Go Out and Vote
3. ISD 191 Performing Arts Magnet in Heart of the City
4. Joey Browner Runs a Write-in Campaign for Eagan City Council
5. Playing Chicken With Burnsville’s City Council