What happens on and to the old Mississippi Dunes golf course will soon be in the hands of the landowner and Rachel Development.
In the meantime, a group including Cottage Grove and area residents are making use of their First Amendment rights by petitioning the government for a change of grievances.
Calling itself Friends of Grey Cloud, the group is circulating a petition that started on Jan. 30, obtaining 1,139 signatures as of this Tuesday. Of this number, just over 300 are city residents, many with long-standing interest in the matter.
Their message, both to the council and Rachel Development is simple: please don’t develop the old Mississippi Dunes golf course. Instead, work to conserve it, and leave a better legacy to future generations. Aligned with this the groups has also worked at securing outside funding in order to purchase the property and adjoin the nearby SNA, should that be possible.
Included in the petition’s rationale are a series of reasons, including but not limited to:
• Endangered habitat
• Endangered and threatened species
• Critical bird area
• Water protection
• Cultural Significance
Situated next to the Grey Cloud Dunes SNA, the site is adjacent to habitat for the Henslow’s Sparrow (state endangered) as well as the Rusty Patch Bumblebee (federally listed), with conservation advocates arguing to rehabilitate former prairie once on the site.
As it currently stands, 40 percent of the former golf course property going into conservation or in process. A 40-acre park called Mississippi Dunes Reserve and expansion of the nearby Scientific and Natural Area will set the planned development apart from the Mississippi River.
With Rachel Development giving a lengthly presentation at the Jan. 22 Plan Commission meeting, the former golf course site was said to be made up of SB or SBM sand, and was “very suitable for housing” it was shared by the prospective developer.
The second such housing proposal to make its way before the council with regard to the old golf course, the controversy is not new.
Beginning with a proposal by Pulte Homes in 2021, city staff has often been at pains to show they are listening while also constrained to abide by the city’s current comprehensive plan, which signals to landowners and developers what they can expect to pass muster to the council. With the comprehensive plan updated every 10 years, a failure to follow what the plan indicates, would potentially result in “a ruling of arbitrary and capricious, in any court of law,” city attorney Kori Land told the council in fall 2021 as it prepared to take concrete steps on the Dunes issue.
“Laws protect everybody,” Land said while predicting that things were about to get bumpy. “Please follow your rules.”
Due to reach council later this month, the 377-lot housing proposal is expected to pass.
