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<br />.
<br />.
<br />
<br />Golf course
<br />
<br />(continued)
<br />
<br />. summer unanimously
<br />cted a proposal to develop
<br />the IS-hole course, located off
<br />Yankee Doodle Road on
<br />Wescott Woodlands Drive.
<br />The city must either amend
<br />the property's zoning to allow
<br />for the housing development or
<br />begin eminent domain pro-
<br />ceedings to take the 40-year-
<br />wdpoomgo~cours~Dmmct
<br />Court Judge Patrice Suther-
<br />land ruled Either action must
<br />begin within 30 days.
<br />The legal loss comes as a sig-
<br />nificant blow to the council's
<br />effort to block development at
<br />Carnage Hills, one of the sub-
<br />urb's last bastions of open space.
<br />'Tm very dejected Develop-
<br />ers used to at least need to get
<br />city approval before coming
<br />in," said Dan Bailey, a member
<br />of the Carriage Hills Coalition,
<br />a group of neighbors who have
<br />spent years fighting the
<br />course's development .
<br />"Now, apparently, if you
<br />have enough money and can
<br />sue people, you can do what
<br />
<br />.want"
<br />th the city and developer
<br />received word of Sutherland's .
<br />ruling Monday.
<br />The City Council will meet
<br />tonight in a closed-door session.
<br />to determine whether it will
<br />appeal the decision. Officials had
<br />no further comment Monday.
<br />"This is a big step. We know
<br />this is an important case with a
<br />far-reaching impact in this
<br />area," said Christopher Pen-
<br />well, attorney for Wensmann
<br />and Rahn.
<br />"Of cours~ my clients are
<br />pleased with the decision, and,
<br />of course, it's the outcome we
<br />were looking forward to. But
<br />it's premature to say anything
<br />about what happens next until
<br />we know what the city will do,"
<br />he said
<br />Under Eagan's comprehen-
<br />
<br />
<br />sive guide plan, the Carnage
<br />Hills property is zoned only for
<br />parks and recreation. Wens-
<br />mann had asked the council to
<br />change the area's land-use des-
<br />ignation to allow low-density
<br />residential housing. The home
<br />builders want to add 480 housing
<br />units - including condos, town
<br />homes and single-family houses
<br />- while preserving 40 or more
<br />acres as parks and open space.
<br />But the council refused to
<br />amend its comprehensive plan.
<br />And it shouldn't have to, Bailey
<br />said
<br />''What is a guide plan then?
<br />Why have this going into the
<br />futurfl, if it really means noth-
<br />ing and has no legal teeth?" he
<br />asked.
<br />In the lawsuit, Rahn said he
<br />was losing hundreds of thou-
<br />sands of dollars annually and
<br />charged that the city's denial of
<br />development amounted to tak-
<br />ing the course without paying
<br />for it
<br />District Judge Patrice
<br />Sutherland agreed In her deci-
<br />sion, she said Eagan's denial
<br />meant that Rahn had to either
<br />incur significant annual losses
<br />from the go~ course's opera-
<br />tions or abandon the property,
<br />which allowed the city and its
<br />residents to benefit from the
<br />land without paying for it.
<br />"This one-sided benefit to
<br />the city is not only at odds with
<br />its goal of preserving public
<br />
<br />. Laura Billings
<br />
<br />(continued)
<br />
<br />taxpayers could buy billionaire
<br />Carl Pohlad - who was willing
<br />to contract his team right out of
<br />existence - the stadium he's
<br />
<br />And yet Hennepin County
<br />taxpayers are expected to hap-
<br />pily open their purse strings?
<br />On an ancillary issue that
<br />may already seem like ancient
<br />history, it was only two months
<br />
<br />amenities such as parks and
<br />open space through private-
<br />public partnerships, it is arbi-
<br />trary and capricious as a mat-
<br />ter of law," she wrote in her
<br />20-page decision.
<br />"The burden on Rahn is
<br />grossly disproportionate to the
<br />burden it should be expected to
<br />bear while the city receives the
<br />advantage of property rights
<br />for which it did not pay."
<br />Sutherland also said the
<br />developer's plans to keep a por-
<br />tion of the go~ course as park-
<br />land supports the city's guide
<br />plan.
<br />Rahn would say only that he
<br />heard he had won his lawsuit.
<br />In the past, he has pegged his
<br />losses at the course over the
<br />past five years at $800,000.
<br />Rahn bought it for $3.6 mil-
<br />lion in 1996, just weeks after the
<br />Carnage Hills Coalition success-
<br />fully fought a request from
<br />another residential developer to
<br />change the comprehensive plan.
<br />"He knew full well what he
<br />was doing, so he invested the
<br />minim:ilIn amount of money
<br />possible into the go~ course
<br />and waited until the market
<br />was ripe to sell it," Bailey said
<br />Penwell said that is nonsense.
<br />"Mr. Rahn bought the
<br />course with the belief and
<br />expectation that it would be
<br />viable. He made significant
<br />capital improvements to the
<br />go~ course, and undertook sig-
<br />nificant marketing efforts," he
<br />said "It's simply not true that
<br />he bought it with the intent of
<br />Closing it."
<br />In Mendota Heights, a simi-
<br />lar legal battle over a go~
<br />course is under way this week.
<br />The city will go before the state
<br />Supreme Court Wednesday to
<br />try to stop a housing develop-
<br />. ment at the Mendota Heights
<br />Par 3 Go~ Course.
<br />It is the final chance for the
<br />city, which already has lost two
<br />lower court rulings.
<br />
<br />Meggen Lindsay can be reached
<br />at mlindsay@pioneerpress.com
<br />or 651-228-5260.
<br />
<br />largest skating complex in the ownE
<br />world and 52 soccer fields, has but
<br />plans for a sports park with authl
<br />sports-related businesses. Krus
<br />Sports center officials said more
<br />Friday that, thanks' to a bill Natu
<br />passed by the Legislature and piece
<br />signed by. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, OJ
<br />the organization expects to als:l)
<br />lease 17 acres near the Schwan they
<br />Super Rink to private business- locatt
<br />es. build
<br />There are no concrete pro- ings.
<br />posals yet, but the businesses reqUl
<br />may ultimately include a sports mont
<br />medicine clinic and a fitness on t
<br />center open to the public, said Krus.
<br />Barclay Kruse, associate direc- Tl
<br />tor of the Minnesota Amateur for I
<br />Sports Commission, which owns learn
<br />
<br />Students ail
<br />
<br />They'll sell pottery
<br />to combat hunger
<br />
<br />
<br />BY JOHN BREWER
<br />Pioneer Press
<br />
<br />When Osceola High School
<br />art teacher Peg Medcraft
<br />recently asked a class of stu-
<br />dents the last time any of them
<br />remembered being hungry,
<br />nobody could recall the sensa-
<br />oon. peo~
<br />The educator and 200-some pIe ir
<br />students are hoping to show start 1
<br />their community that hunger Prl
<br />affects them and their neigh- be SI
<br />bors, as well as people on the Open
<br />other side of the world shelf,
<br />For the past couple of an or
<br />months, students in Medcraft's livestl
<br />clay class have been making lies aJ
<br />bowls to sell at an Empty Bowls goat,
<br />event scheduled for Wednesday could
<br />night. The group aims to raise need)
<br />$2,500 for local and global ME
<br />. hunger-fighting organizations. vised
<br />"I really hope that it opens years
<br />their eyes to hunger," said par- ola, s;
<br />ticipant Sam Evans, a 17-year- partie
<br />old junior. "There's a lot of previ<
<br />poverty in this area that a lot of ''I
<br />
<br />CONTINUED FROM PAGE lB
<br />
<br />that the epidemic of steroid use
<br />in baseball has surely shriveled
<br />character, among other things.
<br />Though Curt Schilling had
<br />called steroid abuse rampant,
<br />he recanted when he was under
<br />oath.
<br />"The issue was grossly over-
<br />stated by people, including
<br />
<br />The whole display was so dis-
<br />gusting that for a brief moment,
<br />Congress was united in its revul-
<br />sion at what's wrong with Amer-
<br />ica's game. Rep. Christopher
<br />Shays, R-Conn., claimed that
<br />baseball's "arrogance" had
<br />"done more to unite Republicans
<br />and Democrats in this CoIllZreSS
<br />
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