Future of Bent Creek unknown: Concern is that property will not remain golf course
By Leah Shaffer

Eden Prairie News
Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Dan Miller has been a member of Bent Creek Golf Club for about a year. His home lies right next to the course, in fact. And he wants it to stay that way.

"That really is, I think, my hope as well as the hope of the members of Bent Creek. The neighbors and everybody I talk to out there in the community really wants to see this stay as a golf course," he said.

But at this point, there's no way to predict the future of the property, 106 acres that are up for sale.

Janette Law, a spokesperson for the owners of the property, explained why it is for sale. She said the co-owner of Bent Creek, Herbert Koch, died last spring and left his share of the property to 18 heirs. "And the owners wish to settle the estate by selling their property," she said.

The other owner, Sam Hertogs, is also selling. Mission Creek Co. LLC will be in charge of evaluating proposals, but will not develop the land. According to Law, the 330 members of the club were made aware of this development in a recent meeting. She could not say if the property would stay a golf club.

"Well, it depends on who purchased the property," she said. For club members like Miller, the hope is that it will fall in the hands of a golf course operator, or even the city. "It's just part of the community and I really, really feel passionate about making sure it stays as a golf course," he said. He mentioned that Bent Creek was part of a planned community development and the golf course was part of that plan. He said his hope is that if it is sold, it has to be sold as a golf course.

Director of Parks and Recreation Bob Lambert also noted that Bent Creek is not like every golf course. He said the one issue with Bent Creek is that it was a part of the Edenvale planned unit development. The plan included a commitment to have a certain amount of space be a golf course.

"There was some commitment made years ago about that open space," Lambert said. However, he noted, over the years, the golf club has been sold from owner to owner. These owners didn't make the original commitment.

The future of the club is not going to be "an easy decision for anybody based on all of the history that goes with that piece of property," he said. Miller hopes that, if another golf course developer doesn't buy it, the city could get it for a municipal golf course. He said Bent Creek would be an opportunity for the city. However, Lambert said Bent Creek owners have approached the city before when it comes to buying the club.

"Previous owners of Bent Creek Golf course have approached the city on three different occasions over the last, oh, 25 years about possibly buying that golf course and each time we did that the amount of money they were requesting for the land was almost double the amount that the city could justify if we did it with revenue bonds," he said.

He said he's sure that property owners around the golf course would like to see the city own that property and protect it as open space. However, the only likely way the city would be able to do something like that would be a referendum.

And, he said, "Just being realistic, the price of land has far exceeded the operation of golf courses. And that's why you see so many golf courses going under these days. Land values in the metro area are skyrocketing." A more profitable housing development is a possible future for the property. "Of course a good deal of that [106] acres is flood plain on the south side of the road. So that can't be developed," noted Lambert.

But, he said, for the land that's out of the flood plain, owners want the best value they can get. At this point that may be housing. Still, said Lambert, there will be some issues to be dealt with such as the original planned unit development and zoning changes. "This is going to be a very interesting process, let's put it that way." Meanwhile, the club is set to continue operations "through the 2006 golfing season," states a Mission Creek Co. press release.