Becka Thompson’s 18-hole amendment
This article has been updated on July 21st 2022 to add responses from the DNR, MCWD, and Commissioner Thompson.
Commissioner Thompson submitted a new amendment to resolution 2022-269 on September 6th. Staff comments on that amendment can be found here.
Commissioner Becka Thompson has proposed an amendment to MPRB resolution 2022-247 in an attempt to kill the Hiawatha Golf Course Area Master plan. This amendment contains a number of factual inaccuracies and misleading statements. As it is being considered for official adoption by the Park Board, we feel it is important that these issues are addressed publicly. What follows is the text of the amendment and our responses.
WHEREAS The Hiawatha Golf Course is of Historical Significance and may soon be listed on the National Registry of Historic Places
Note the heavy lift done by the word “may” here. No application for historical designation has been made. Even if the golf course were deemed historically significant, that does not imply a requirement that it be perpetually used in precisely the manner that made it historic. Fort Snelling is a museum rather than a military fort. Pillsbury A Mill is a condo. There is no reason to believe that a court would rule that historic designation requires the continued operation of a specific 18-hole configuration. In addition, this site is also historically important to Dakota people as a wild rice lake within the sacred Bdote homeland, a history that is curiously absent from Thompson’s amendment.
WHEREAS Pumping has been used to keep the basements of homes in the area dry for the last 90 years and now it is not sustainable for the neighborhood for MPRB to stop this community service.
There are no proposals on the table to cease pumping, only to reduce it in a targeted way that would keep basements dry. It’s disingenuous to imply otherwise. Friends of Lake Hiawatha also notes: “Pumping began in 1962; that is 60 years rather than the 90 years [Thompson] stated. The pumping of large volumes into Lake Hiawatha began in 1992 - that is 30 years ago.”
WHEREAS Golf is a revenue generator for MPRB and from resolution 2017-243 we know that a 9 hole golf course has a 95% of LOSING money and Ann 18 hole courses a 99% chance of making money.
Hiawatha Golf Course consistently loses money (see our Myths page). Resolution 2017-243 contains no such statistics. MPRB planners and Friends of Lake Hiawatha have both stated that they have never seen any evidence that would support this claim.
WHEREAS Resolution 2018-230 prohibits pumping at a level able to sustain an 18 hole course, opting for “option B” from Barr Engineering’s three pumping scenarios from its 2017 study on the issues of the course.
This might be the one unequivocally true statement in the whole thing. Resolution 2018-230 indeed chose to pursue a reduced pumping scenario.
WHEREAS The Minnesota DNR does not have limits on pumping at the course per their own communication and seeks only guidance for the levels wherein to write the permit.
This is plainly false. The current water appropriations permit issued in 2021 by the DNR has a limit of 400 million gallons annually. Commissioner Thompson has not provided any such communication from the DNR indicating that they would approve unlimited pumping.
A response from Dan Lais at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reads, in part: “The proposed amendment appears to suggest there are no limits to the authorized volume of pumping that could be authorized by DNR for the Hiawatha Golf Course. This misstates comments previously provided by the DNR. DNR has commented that we don’t speculate on what a future pumping volume or amendment request may entail from the MPRB and DNR has not predetermined what a sustainable pumping volume is near Lake Hiawatha. DNR will evaluate any future amendment request after receipt and when we have a complete application. The requested pumping volume will be evaluated for consistency with applicable water use statutes and rules, including sustainability criteria. Additionally, coordination of the application will occur with PCA and the Dept. of Agriculture. The current DNR permit for water level maintenance authorizes up to 400 MGY for example and is not open ended.”
WHEREAS Entire portions of the City of Minneapolis are built upon former wetlands and cessation of pumping will cause unknown damage, per the Wisker Report enshrined by the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.
To our knowledge, no other portions of Minneapolis are kept dry by continuous pumping. As mentioned above, no plan being considered would stop pumping altogether, so this statement is meaningless.
A response from James Wisker at the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District reads, in part: “The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) has not authored any documents by that title. While speculative on my part, Commissioner Thompson may be referring to ‘Lake Nokomis Area Groundwater and Surface Water Evaluation’… This work, which undertook a third party review by the University of Minnesota, did not analyze “cessation of pumping” at Lake Hiawatha.”
RESOLVED MPRB rescinds Resolution 2018-230 wherein the Board directed the CAC to only consider options with a “reduced pumping scenario” and instead inserts “ALTERNATE A” pumping (per the Barr Report Technical memorandum section 6.5 on 6/21/2017), which would allow over 200 gallons per day to be pumped thereby allowing an 18 hole course AND the opportunity to clean the lake and surrounding wetland.
The number cited here makes no sense. 2oo gallons per day is not nearly enough to sustain 18 holes. The golf course currently pumps around 1 million gallons per day to maintain 18 holes (it pumped 400 million gallons in 2019, for example).
RESOLVED The Board of Commissioners suspend the public hearing until a CAC can be formed where there’s a possibility for 18 holes to be considered without regard to limited pumping action.
It’s worth noting that 18 holes would mean not only abandoning reduced pumping, but also any hope of adequate pollution treatment or flooding mitigation. The constraints of the site mean there is simply not enough room to retain 18 holes while adding the needed water treatment.
RESOLVED The Board of Commissioners cease all activities surrounding the Masterplan as it is currently written until the new CAC give guidance on an 18 hole community course.
Here’s the real goal: stall the process indefinitely.
Friends of Lake Hiawatha reached out to Commissioner Thompson to express concerns about some of these inaccuracies and request they be remedied. Commissioner Thompson’s July 20th response to FOLH reads, in full:
The DNR is official. I was told that is what was told before I became a board member. The data is that of the 20 9 hole courses in the metro, all but 1 lose money (hence 95%). The 200 gallons is actually off, you are correct, but I had other meetings yesterday morning and so was unable to cite the exact number before the noon deadline for amendments. I believe it was actually around 260.
I won't change the pumping as pumping started when the course was created. I'm happy to get technical if the amendment passes committee.
Thank you for your advocacy for the Lake and your passions about this issue.