HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975 03-25 Golf course purchase rejected by Maplewood DISPATCH ! (opt course puicnus
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The Maplewood ¢ytnot buying this proper- Dick P e a r s o n, 1959
Council Thursdayreject- �',„
he said. White Bear Ave., said
ed purchase of the Ma- Murdock and Wiegert the c o u n c i 1 should
ple Hills Golf Course on argued that the course is schedule a referendum
a 2 to 3 vote. an excellent buy, based because the city; will be
COUNCILMEN B u r- on information f r o m using tax monies if it has
ton Murdock and Don owners of other nine- to support the course
ald Wiegert favored city hole courses and mugici- with park funds.
acquisition of the nine- pal courses such as Rose-
ville's. The price of the .
hole, par 3 course, while
Mayor Robert Bruton property is not going to
and Councilmen Norman go down, Murdock
Anderson and John pointed out.
•
Greavu opposed it.
Don Bordsen, a mem- `I
ber of the parks and rec
City Manager Michael reation commission, said .-
Miller had recommended the course is projected to
purchase of the course, produce $5,000 to 14,000
1 o c a t e d on Parkway year for the city and
Drive west of Hwy. 61, perhaps more, if the MURDOCK
and city parks officials course were improved to
also supported acquisi- make it easier to play on. He added that the only
tion. The f a c i 1 i t y is HE NOTED that Ban- persons speaking in fa-
owned by Ban-Con,Inc. Con's financial reports vor of the purchase have
THE PURCHASE price included years when ac- been a Ban-Con repre-
of$500,000,which was to cess to the course was s e n t a t i v e and two
include an office build- poor because streets in spokesmen for the city 1
ing and adjacent lots, the area were torn up. parks department.
would have been fi- City publicity and pro- Wiegert,however, said
nanced through revenues grams also would in- proponents of a referen-
from the golf course. crease revenues,he said. dum are "unfair" be-
However, several Based on the cost per cthere's noow
time"
Ma-
plewood residents hour of recreational use, i
Bordsen said, the golf one.
argued, and the majority course would be a better "What you're really
of the council agreed, buy than baseball or saying is 'forget it,' be-
that there is no guaran-
teefootball fields or tennis cause that's what it
the course would pay courts. amounts to,"he said.
for i t s e I f. Taxpayers—---
could end up financing a
deficit,they said.
GREAVU AND sever-
al residents argued that
the purchase should be
subject to a referendum.
The vote Thursday ap-
peared to hinge on An-
derson, who wavered for
a time and then voiced a
faint"no".
"I had too many peo-
ple call me," he ex-
plained. "If I'd had one
person call me and say
they wanted it. .
Murdock said the.
council's rejection of the
purchase is ' "really 'a
shame."
"I THINK we're mak-
ing the biggest mistake