Minneapolis Park Board Conversations
That You Should Hear
About Hiawatha Golf Course
September 19, 2017
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has been getting a lot of concern from the homeowners regarding flooding of the vulnerable homes northwest of Hiawatha Golf Course.
This resulted in further discussion between the commissioners over the fate of Hiawatha Golf Course, and the concern over flooding of the homes at the last MPRB meeting.
You can find and view the video of this MPRB meeting at MPRB Meeting Video.
The Hiawatha Golf Course discussion starts at appromimately 33 minutes.
Here are some excerpts of note from the meeting (numbers in parenthesis are the minute markers into the video):
43:20 "I'm sorry to disappoint people, but we just ain't having 18 hole golf here." Anita Tabb
47:29 "I am willing to pump groundwater to save the basements of people who have built their homes and invested there,
but only at regular weather. When it floods or if it rains, they better have sump pumps in their basements." Liz Wielinski talking about homeowners at risk of flooding.
49:00 "I think that we are all in agreement that eventually the 18 hole golf course will not be sustainable. It would be great if that were reflected specifically in the resolve." Scott Vreeland
51:45 "And I'm saying it is an 'and' but both of those things could occur but the whereas specifically says that even if both of those things occur, it still ain't gonna happen in the long term." Scott Vreeland talking about 18 hole golf.
To clarify, Brad Bourne had requested a change that left open the possibility of 18 holes, if their resolution criteria were not met.
52:30 "I think we have established pretty substantively over the past two years that the perpetuation of the 18 hole golf course here in perpetuity is impossible because we are causing the ground to sink.
This ... most of the land here, occupied by our fairways, is below the water level. All that we went through exhaustively over very many meetings both with the public and
amongst ourselves here with the board. Ummm, I believe the intent of this is to help people understand that there will be an 18 hole golf course until we meet these two criteria.
Ahh, I don't see us putting 'unless' instead of 'until' in there is a reasonable position to take because it is ignoring all of the data that we have in front of us." Steffanie Musich.
SaveHiawatha18's clarification: The Park Board's own Barr Engineering report specifically states that there is no data available that shows that the golf course is sinking.
Barr said that a long-term study would need to be done to determine if this was true.
56:40 Brad Bourne asks Mr. Schroeder "is there any circumstance in which the DNR would give the Park Board a permit to pump 242 million gallons of water per year."
Mr. Schroeder said, "I can't tell you that. I don't want to predict for them. They have indicated a strong preference for us to reduce groundwater pumping on this site.
They are willing to work with us during an interim period as we study this but I don't want to predict what they will say, but it's my strong feeling that they will want us to
significantly reduce groundwater pumping and protect the nearby homes" Mr.
Bourne asked, "But we have not asked the question yet, and submitted a permit application yet for 242 million and have been denied by the DNR for pumping 242 million?"
Mr Schroeder responded, "We haven't asked that. We have shared various scenarios with them and their strong preference was for a reduced pumping volume."
SaveHiawatha18's clarification: Read Mr. Schroeder's response closely. The DNR has told SaveHiawatha18 more than once that they have NO POSITION regarding the level of pumping at Hiawatha Golf Course.
They are waiting for the Park Board to decide what they want to do, and the DNR will then work with the Park Board.
1:03:41 Annie Young talks about 9 holes for schools and ethnic groups that use it now.
1:04:34 "I think that we do know from the DNR that they will not let us pump forever and you may not have heard that.
And, no we have not applied for a permit. But, the fact of the matter is we don't want to apply for a permit and put the DNR in the position of having to turn us down." Anita Tabb
SaveHiawatha18's clarification: Again, the DNR has told SaveHiawatha18 more than once that they have NO POSITION regarding the level of pumping at Hiawatha Golf Course.
They are waiting for the Park Board to decide what they want to do, and the DNR will then work with the Park Board.