Just a tad bit more follow-up on the Rackham Golf Course situation (I’ve previously blogged about it here and here:
The Rackham family heirs have apparently approved of the deal – which was presumed to be a big stumbling block in any negotiations. Interestingly enough, it appears that last week, Detroit’s city council voted against the current proposal from the developer, which could’ve brougth in nearly $10M to the city. In other news, the City of Huntington Woods, within which the course is located, is taking pretty much every action they can to block the sale, or at least the development of the land.
Initiatives in Huntington Woods call for a millage which would fund a $6M offer to be tendered to the City of Detroit – a proposal which proponents hope will be revenue neutral given the operating income of the course in years to come. They have also petitioned the courts to enforce an even older restrictive deed covenant – probably from when the land was first platted, which limited its use to a public golf course or a public park.
I’m not generally a fan of municipalities meddling in the affairs of private companies. As a rule, I’m against it. But this case is different because it involves one municipality offering for sale, land within the jurisdiction of another municipality – coupled with the conflicts of interest that inevitably go along with being a city on the perpetual brink of receivership.
The Detroit Free Press has an interesting human interest story about some dude who’s worked the course for 70 years or something like that – back when it was pretty much the only course in the state where Blacks were allowed to play.