The latest skirmish in a decades-old battle between Lake Elmo and the Metropolitan Council led to a recommendation Monday to green-light another upscale development in that suburb — but only after warnings, and only on a divided vote.
This time it was a subdivision that is to surround a new golf course, designed by golf legends Annika Sorenstam and the late Arnold Palmer.
And it came just as restiveness has been growing over routine approvals being given to pricey new developments, despite the fact that the communities involved may be a long way from fulfilling Met Council goals for affordable housing.
It's an age-old fight between the council and a community that cherishes its rural feel.
"We continue to take actions like this, where low-income people, often people of color, won't be able to live there," Met Council Member Gail Dorfman said, "and it's frustrating. The staff will tell us it meets guidelines, but I find it really frustrating."
Dorfman raised the issue during a meeting of the Met Council's Community Development Committee, which began initially about a project in Carver County but turned a few minutes later to the Royal Golf Club development in Lake Elmo.
The Royal development passed the committee on a voice vote, with Dorfman and at least one other person dissenting. It now goes to the full council.
The development, just shy of 300 homes, comes as a package with a redesigned golf course that is being described as the last ever designed by Palmer before he died, and the first by the retired Sorenstam.
