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The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has voted to stop pumping hundreds of millions of gallons of groundwater from the Hiawatha Golf Course. That may mean the course will eventually close.

The golf course is one of seven run by the board. It opened in 1934, although it was extensively remodeled in the 1990s. It suffered major flooding in 2014.

The parks commission voted 6-3 to cut back groundwater pumping, which has been used to prevent flooding that would make the course unusable. The board said its state permit to pump groundwater into nearby Lake Hiawatha allowed about 39 million gallons a year, but it pumps more than six times as much as allowed by the permit from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The vote will not mean an immediate closure, and pumping will continue for now.

Too much water could shutter Mpls. golf course

The course is expected to remain open while the Park Board figures out another use for the park land that requires less pumping. A staff report provided to Park Board members says the 18-hole course will remain open and maintained at least through the end of the 2019 season.

Part of a resolution approved by the board Wednesday night says staff should come up with a plan for deciding what to do, including public input, by mid-October. That plan could also include some form of golf in the area, although a study of the options said a smaller 9-hole course would probably not be financially viable.

A memo to the board on the options said there are dozens of nine-hole courses in Minnesota and only one is profitable. The report said a smaller course likely would not interest many golfers, who prefer 18-hole courses.

The alternative, an assessment said, "presents the potential for a greater range of landscape types, habitats and restorations, which promotes the ecological integrity of the property. The most significant change would be the elimination of turf grasses used on the golf course to introduce, restore or enhance wetlands, upland areas, connected floodplains and (Minnehaha) Creek."

Business and Economic News

Tim Nelson

Author

The board agreed to stop pumping hundreds of millions of gallons of groundwater from the course to hold back flooding. The course is expected to remain open while the board weighs another use for the land.

Mpls. park board vote signals end for Hiawatha Golf Course

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