Housing or parkland? Duluth debates future of long-closed golf course amid housing crunch
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The former Lester Park golf course sprawls along the far eastern edge of Duluth. What used to be more than 250 acres of lush fairways is now an unofficial off-leash dog park, with footpaths winding through tall grass and trees in the summer, a groomed cross country skiing and skijoring track in the winter, and stunning views of Lake Superior year-round.
The city of Duluth closed the golf course in 2020, as golfer numbers declined and the city decided to instead invest in improving its Enger Park golf course in another part of town. The prime real estate sits mostly vacant now, with the parking lot pavement crumbling and pocked with potholes, while the clubhouse sits boarded up.
But now this beloved piece of land is at the center of a fierce debate in a community proud of its abundance of wild green spaces, over whether the course should be sold and developed into badly needed housing, protected as public parkland, or some combination of the two.
The Duluth City Council takes a key step in determining the land’s future Monday night when it votes on a proposal to transfer the former golf course to the city’s economic development arm to pursue a housing development.
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The public process that has led to the vote has come under scrutiny. Many residents and outdoor groups have argued that a promised land use study of the golf course should be conducted first, before any land transfer takes place.
Others are critical of the city council tying the golf course vote to a different issue: the permanent protection of 1,500 acres of county tax forfeit land scattered throughout Duluth as city parkland. That project has been in the works for years.
There was plenty of skepticism voiced by city residents at the last city council meeting.
“It is an unfair way to ram through a highly contested issue,” said Duluth resident Julia Carlson.
“I cannot figure out what the rush is on this whole thing,” added fellow Duluthian Dave Pagel.
“Selling public lands should undergo the highest scrutiny with robust and meaningful public input,” said Libby Bent.
But others, including several city council members and Mayor Roger Reinert, insist the process has been open and transparent, and that it’s imperative to move quickly to address the city’s severe housing needs and generate new property tax revenue.
“Lester (Golf Course) cannot continue to sit and deteriorate. It dishonors both the legacy of Lester, and its potential,” wrote Reinert in a recent letter to constituents encouraging the transfer of the land to the Duluth Economic Development Authority (DEDA).
Reinert said that a housing development will help the city meet the housing needs of its growing workforce and population, “while also meeting our goals for green space preservation and additional outdoor recreation opportunities.”
A ‘historic’ opportunity
Like many other Minnesota cities, including Rochester and Mankato, Duluth is facing a severe housing shortfall. A recent study commissioned by the city found that Duluth needs to add nearly 9,000 new housing units by 2035 to meet increasing demand. And as an older, fully built-out city, Duluth has very few large areas like this available to build major housing developments.
One of them, said Mayor Reinert, is the former Central High School site, where a developer who had proposed a massive development of apartment buildings recently defaulted on agreements with the city after running into financial troubles.
The second area is downtown Duluth, where underutilized office buildings could be repurposed as housing. And the third is the Lester Park golf course — which, Reinert stresses, is the only one of the three potential development sites that the city owns.
Reinert calls the opportunity to develop Lester “historic in terms of moving our community forward and trying to increase housing inventory, trying to decrease the cost of housing, but also doing it in a way that integrates a number of elements.”
Reinert envisions a mixed-use development that still could include golf, as well as green space and connection to hiking, biking and ski trails, and restaurant and retail amenities.
“It's one of our very rare opportunities to do a planned, thoughtful, entire new neighborhood with housing at scale,” Reinert said.
Discussions on the golf course’s future go back at least two decades and four mayoral administrations. There have been several proposals and task forces created in attempts to coalesce community support around a single vision for the property. But nothing’s stuck.
The issue has taken on new urgency in recent months. In October, the city council approved a nine-month land use study of the property which would include a “robust public engagement process.”
But several community members have asked for that land use study to be completed first, before a decision is made on whether to transfer the land to the Economic Development Authority.
“It really feels like we should do this land use study to figure out what parts of that property are developable, what makes sense to meet our actual housing needs, and then transfer just that portion to DEDA,” said Ansel Schimpff, executive director of COGGS, a mountain bike advocacy group.
“So that we're not giving up this whole 260 acres of park and then hoping that we get some of it back,” added Schimpff, who was part of the latest working group to explore options for the golf course land.
State law requires that any vote to take public land out of city park status requires a supermajority vote — in this case eight out of nine council members. That’s a tough bar to meet, and Schmipff and others argue that once the council transfers the land, the public will lose some of its sway, as future votes on the land would only require a majority vote.
Duluth City Council member Wendy Durrwachter, whose district includes the golf course, said she plans to vote against the land transfer because of similar concerns she’s heard from constituents.
“People want the land use study done first,” said Durrwachter. “So it's really unfortunate that we're being forced to throw away our eight to one vote on what occurs at Lester prematurely.”
At-large councilor Arik Forsman, who also serves as a DEDA commissioner, said the critics have it backwards.
“We've set up the entire process so that we have to complete a land use study before we can close any portion of the property, and the study itself is actually what will inform whether we close on any of it,” Forsman said.
He added that transferring the land to DEDA would allow the development authority to pay for the land use study, which is expected to cost up to $200,000. Otherwise, he said, the city would be on the hook for the expense. But council member Durrwachter believes the city could come up with funding for the study.
Forsman and Reinert also point out that the council would have another opportunity to vote on the land transfer after the land use study is completed. The council would also have to sign off on any development proposal down the road.
“And yes, those are majority votes, but the majority of the city council still speaks for Duluthians on almost every other issue,” Forsman said.
Public lands
With its extensive network of biking, hiking and ski trails on the hillside that rises up from Lake Superior, Duluth has become a haven for outdoor recreation enthusiasts.
Julie O’Leary, president of the Duluth chapter of the Izaak Walton League, said the city should be extremely wary of selling the very public green space that helps attract new residents.
“It's a resource and an asset for all of us. We're not going to get any more of it. The demand for outdoor activities is not going to go away. As Duluth grows, there's going to be a greater demand,” O’Leary said.
For years Duluth has been working to add new land to its parkland inventory. Two years ago the city acquired over 2,000 acres of tax-forfeit land from St. Louis County. Much of that land includes areas that are already used for outdoor recreation — including large sections of the Lester Park and Piedmont cross country ski trails.
But that land is still zoned residential. The vote to transfer the Lester Park golf course to DEDA also includes a provision to permanently protect 1,500 of those tax-forfeit acres as parkland.
“Being able to combine development with preservation, those two things should be done in tandem,” said Roz Randorf, a Duluth city council member and DEDA commissioner who spearheaded combining the two provisions.
“We saw it as the perfect coupling of development and preservation in tandem. And so it really shows our commitment to the environment, and our commitment to housing,” Randorf added.
Critics see it differently. “It seems really just kind of slimy to effectively be holding that land hostage in order to get this Lester golf course land transferred,” said Schimpff.
“The process to identify that 1,500 acres of land has been a great example of engagement and participation by community and government at all levels. What's happening with the Lester Park golf course is not a good process,” said O’Leary.
But after languishing for years, others say it’s imperative to start a new process to finally settle on a plan for the golf course’s future–while also addressing critical housing needs.
“I’m not satisfied with an outcome where Lester Park Golf Course remains a dog park where very few people clean up their dog poop,” councilor Arik Forsman said at the last council meeting. ”That’s not its highest and best use.”
