Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.
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The plan to remedy both water issues and perceived shared-space inequities by halving the number of holes at the Hiawatha Golf Course in south Minneapolis is an expensive attempt to show that less is more.
It's back on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board agenda yet again — for a fourth time, depending on how you count the cycles — and should be rejected yet again. The timing of Wednesday evening's anticipated vote, however, suggests that proponents believe they now have the support to advance the proposal.
A recap:
The surface of the 18-hole course, like much of the developed area near Lake Hiawatha, is close to the water table. The course can flood after heavy rainfalls. Keeping it dry requires pumping. Nearby homes also benefit from this.
After significant flooding in 2014, the Park Board decided to re-envision the golf course and adjacent parkland. It began developing a master plan that, as stated in the resolution before the board on Wednesday, "pursues a balance of golf and other activities set in a landscape guided by water management." The tangible outcomes would be to cut the course to nine holes, manufacture a wetland and add non-golf amenities — at a cost of more than $40 million, as yet unfunded.
During the eight years leading up to this reprise, two things seem to have caught the board by surprise: first, the degree of water pumping taking place, which exceeded permitted levels and appeared to validate arguments for shrinking or even closing the course; and second, the historical significance of the course among Black golfers, which did the opposite.
