Eagan voters to decide whether to buy Carriage Hills Golf Course

Eagan voters will decide whether to pay $10.25 million to buy the former Carriage Hills Golf Course at a referendum in November.

The golf course has been the subject of a lengthy court case filed in 2004 by developer Wensmann Realty, which wants to build houses on the land, against the city, which has fought to preserve the course as green space.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the Eagan City Council approved a contingent settlement that will allow voters to choose between buying the land to preserve it and letting the land be developed.

If Eagan residents vote to maintain the land as open space, the city will pay $10 million for the 120-acre site, plus about $250,000 in bond fees and other expenses. But even before the November election, the city will start the review process and hold public hearings this summer on a Wensmann proposal for homes that could be built if voters nix the offer.

Wensmann has until April 16 to submit a formal development application, but the settlement outlines:

• A mix of 450 to 480 single-family homes, row houses and senior housing on 90 acres of the golf course.

• 30 acres of green space throughout the development, with buffers between nearby neighborhoods.

The city still has the right to approve or deny Wensmann's proposal, but if voters approve the referendum, development plans would not proceed. If the referendum fails and the city blocks development, the case probably will go back to court.

The case, which went all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, had been sent back to district court last year and was scheduled for trial in June before the parties hashed out the agreement last week.