by Dennis Dalman
As of Feb. 29, the controversial legal agreement for the sale of city-owned land to a private developer in Sartell is now a done deal.
At its Feb. 26 meeting, the city council voted 3-1 to approve the buyer-seller agreement. Council member Jed Meyer was not at the meeting. Mayor Ryan Fitzthum voted no, saying he wishes the project well but said he has reservations about an amendment stipulation regarding secondary uses for that property.
The developer, Three Tees LLC, will pay the city $426,000 for the land.
For the past year, the land sale was the subject of strong opposition by many city residents, including several former mayors and numerous former city council members. Some of them described the sale as a “giveaway.”
Opponents included the current city mayor, Ryan Fitzthum and council member Jed Meyer, who both voted against it last year. Voting in favor of the sale were council members Tim Elness, Alex Lewandowski and Jill Smith. The basic rationale for the sale was the land would become a financial drain to city finances.
At the Feb. 26 meeting, Sartell City Administrator Anna Gruber said there was transparency about the sales proposal from the very beginning. The city, she said, is not a “developer” or a golf-course operator. The best way to keep the land as a golf course (without financial liability on the city’s part for expensive upkeep and repairs) was to sell it to a developer willing to commit to keeping it as a golf course.
In preparation for the closing agreement, city-council members at their Feb. 12 meeting unanimously agreed to a number of pre-closing legal amendments for the buyer-seller agreement, including an escrow fund of $40,000. That amount will be placed in escrow by the City of Sartell from the buyer’s money they receive after the buyer-seller agreement is signed. That money will be used to pay the current tenant on that land, Boulder Ridge Golf Course, a lease-termination fee for the city to end its lease to Boulder Ridge after another year. If Boulder Ridge does not achieve its one-year lease period, the money would be returned to the city. Boulder Ridge’s golf-course operation in Sartell is known as Pine Ridge Golf & Tavern.
The buyer of the land is Brandon Testa, who owns and manages Three Tees LLC and who has owned House of Pizza in Sartell and St. Cloud for many years. The Sartell location of House of Pizza just recently closed after 20 years. The buyer-seller agreement was drafted by the Rinke Noonan law firm based in St. Cloud.
That legal document states Three Tees must maintain a nine-hole golf course on that 81 acres of land for a period of 30 years. In addition, a new parking lot must be built, the land’s irrigation system must be restored to fully working order and the current clubhouse renovated.
Last month, at the Feb. 12 council meeting, City Administrator Anna Gruber, who outlined the amendments for council consideration, had this to say:
“This decision has been passionately deliberated and had varying perspectives. We’ve appreciated the collaborative approach and commitment to supporting a local business, honoring the decision of the majority, considering the broad interests of the community and agreeing to acknowledge the best of intentions for the future of Sartell, even though sometimes it may represent a different approach or desire than our own selves individually.”
Background
In 2008, the city council authorized the purchase of 120 acres of land in central Sartell – land that had been an 18-hole golf course. The purchase was made using regional half-cent sales tax income. Half of that land was made into Pinecone Central Park. The other half was leased to a St. Cloud-based golf-course business known as Boulder Ridge. The lease lasted for 15 consecutive years and will continue for one more year, until Three Tees takes possession of that land.
In late 2022, Sartell city staff, with the city council’s permission, called for RFPs (Requests for Proposal) to sell the golf-course land. The city received four RFPs and selected Three Tees as the potential buyer.
A contentious process followed, sparked by a public outcry charging city officials with lack of transparency and little or no public input about the land-sale proposal. Those opposed maintained the city should have kept that land for future parkland or other city developments and that the city had no right to sell it because it was purchased in 2008 with sales-tax revenue as a kind of public trust for the city as parkland.
Despite the vociferous opposition, the decision to sell the land took place at a council meeting in May 2023 on a vote of 3-2.
