No Section

Golf ends at Fred Richards in Edina; is puckelball next?

By John Reinan

October 4, 2014 at 4:08AM

The 9-hole Fred Richards Golf Course in Edina will be repurposed according to a master plan devised by the community. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Puckelball, anyone?

The Swedish game — basically, soccer played on a crazily undulating field — is among the suggestions from Edina residents for repurposing the Fred Richards Golf Course. First opened in 1956, "the Fred" will close Sunday and its 42 acres will be remade into public park and recreation land.

To help decide the site's future, Edina's Parks & Recreation Department held two open houses and two walk-throughs at the golf course over the summer, giving citizens a chance to share their views on the future of the Fred.

On Monday night, the city Park Board will review a draft plan based on citizen input. Among the key points:

• The land will be used for public recreation. It will not be sold or used for stormwater management.

• The golf clubhouse will remain as a community and event center.

• About 40 percent of the land will be used for active recreation, such as field games and play spaces. These could include soccer, puckelball, lacrosse and other games. "Outdoor adventure" and creative play spaces are specifically recommended.

• The rest of the land will be set aside for passive recreation — park trails, informal lawn areas, wildflower gardens — as well as ponds and buffers. An area for a community garden also is a possibility.

• Vehicle entrances to the park will be landscaped parkways, and the park will connect to regional trail systems.

Ann Kattreh, the city's parks and recreation director, called the project "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for this community."

"It is certainly a very sad time for the community to be losing a treasured golf asset," Kattreh said. "But at the same time, it's a really exciting opportunity for a completely built community to have such a tremendous gem of a location available for park development. We intend to make the best of it."

The community vision is a general first step; next will come the development of a detailed master plan based on the vision. And then money will have to be found to bring it all to life.

The citizens' vision report, created by Schoenbauer Consulting of Minneapolis, estimates a price tag of $6.6 million to $7.9 million. Kattreh said that estimate is speculative until a detailed master plan is created.

"There are still a lot of unknowns," she said. "We just wanted to find out what residents would like to see, and the breakdown between active and passive use, and how we can fit this park within this area. And we're really pleased with the results so far."

John Reinan • 612-673-7402

about the writer

John Reinan

Reporter

John Reinan is a news reporter covering Greater Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. For the Star Tribune, he's also covered the western Twin Cities suburbs, as well as marketing, advertising and consumer news. He's been a reporter for more than 20 years and also did a stint at a marketing agency.