Save Carriage Hills Golf Course!
Published Friday, May 20, 2005
by Dan Bailey, Carriage Hills Coalition
My wife and I recently bought our first house because of its great location. We purchased a home that backs up to a small public golf course. This house quickly became our dream home. Two weeks after we closed, we spoke to a local resident and they informed us they had heard that course was sold to a developer to become residential housing. (Apartments, Town Homes, and Single Family Homes, etc.) We were devastated. We asked our realtor how he could have overlooked this HUGE mistake by not informing us. He said, "There was no record of the sale!" We looked into our City's (Eagan, MN) Comprehensive Guide Plan and found that since its creation the City has always planned to keep the course zoned for open space. This was proven about 9 years ago when a previous owner of the course tried to sell it as a development and failed to get the guide plan and zoning changed. During that time neighbors and supporters of the course and open space supporters started an organization called the Carriage Hills Coalition. This organization was pivotal in convincing the City not to change the course's guide plan designation. About 5 weeks after that owner failed to change the course's zoning the present owner bought the course at a bargain rate ($3.6 million) knowing-full-well the City's intensions to keep that area open space. The owner also runs a couple other courses in the Twin Cities metro area and says he's been in the golf course industry for years. The owner says he's losing money and will continue to lose money on the course. He must sell it to a developer to make money on his investment. I have personally observed a few things while the owner has been making his case for losing money:
1. The course does not have a paid-advertisement in any of the top 5 golf course Website's and from my knowledge...has never had a paid listing.
2. The course does not have its own Website.
3. The only major improvement in 9 years has been an installed driving range (lights and nets) but was closed immediately after it was built because range balls were missing.
4. The course is family owned along with a group of other courses the family operates.
5. The financials of the course have yet to be viewed by the public.
6. On a 120 acre parcel in a prime area of the Twin Cities metro the owner pays no more than about $35K in taxes annually (From what I understand the City's estimated tax value for the property is less then $2 million on the books.)
I believe the owner bought this property with the intensions of waiting until the market was ripe to sell again. I believe the owner, with all his knowledge of running golf courses invested as little as he could, making it look as if he was losing money this entire time. I believe he has been using this course for tax right-offs for his other courses and business in general. (This would only be known if the public was able see the books in which he claims to have substantial losses.) I believe his knowledge of the industry would provide him the where-with-all to know that the course does not have an open driving range people won't golf there. (Who likes to swing for a score when they haven't even warmed up yet?) And last but not least...how can someone with all this industry knowledge believe their business can be successful without advertising, especially in today's age of the internet? Look...even this posting is FREE! I created my own homemade Website for this cause. It has cost me personally less than $300 and has had over 4000 visitors in only a few months. Check for yourself http://www.carriagehills.org/
Without leagues and posted tee times having access to the internet along with no apparent marketing, how could an accomplished golf course owner claim he's running his course as effectively as he could?
A Planning Commission heard our arguments. They voted unanimously to save the course from development. We were heard by our City Council
They voted unanimously to uphold our Eagan City Comprehensive Guide Plan and the area's present zoning. (Although I did leave that council meeting with hesitation because the council needed what is known as a Super-Majority 4 out of 5 votes to change the guide plan. The first two members quickly said they would vote against the change and the others then seemed to just follow suit for the record.) Unfortunately I believe if the first two council members said nothing at the beginning and just voted there would not have been a unanimous decision in our favor. The members made comments that the Judge refrenced in her decision.
That leads me to now. The developer and the current owner of the course sued the City of Eagan after the meeting decision. This past month a Judge ruled (in my own summary) the City made a bad (illegal) decision. The Judge went as far to say, "the City must change the zoning within 30 days or buy the course. The owner has a right to expect a return on his investment."
The developer offered the owner around $14 million for the course. Laws say that since a purchase agreement was entered into it must be finished before any alternatives can be offered. This rule/law, in my humble opinion, is bunk for these reasons:
1. The owner NEVER publicly tried to sell the course as a golf course or within its zoning.
2. The course's value should not be based on an inflated price created by changing existing zoning. (My backyard would be worth a lot more if I could change the zoning to allow me to burry hazardous waste back there!)
3. Even the developer himself would only offer the money on a "contingent" situation (that the zoning change happen). This proves the owner should NEVER have expected the existing laws to change for him to make $11 million in profit in less than 9 years.
I think the City should appeal the decision of the Judge or offer the owner what he has been paying all along in taxes as the property's estimated value. I have a small business. Is it society's responsibility to make sure my business succeeds no matter how I run it? (To make sure I get back my investment and make a profit?)
I would like to hear your ideas on what you think our coalition could do to save our precious open green space. We only have a few more days!
But the reality is, the fate of Carriage Hills Golf Course and open space in our community essentially lies in the hands of the Eagan, MN City Council members now.
