Duluth council orders land-use study for former Lester Park Golf Course after wide public comment

The Duluth City Council voted 9-0 to request a land-use study for the former Lester Park Golf Course, directing city staff to conduct a multi-topic review and public engagement process for the roughly 230-acre site.

The resolution (filed as Resolution 845 and taken as item 12 on the agenda) asks planning staff to examine existing zoning, infrastructure costs, comprehensive-plan alignment, park protections and demographic needs and to propose options that balance open space and potential development. The measure passed after more than an hour of public comment from residents, commission members and neighborhood advocates.

Why it matters: The site sits on Duluth’s eastern side and has been the focus of years of debate between residents who want the land preserved as parkland and officials and others who say the city needs sites that can help relieve a regional housing shortage. The council’s vote orders a formal study and public process rather than approving any land sale, rezoning or transfer.

Public speakers pressed for a transparent, broad process and for protection of open space. “The working group was not and cannot serve as a replacement for a transparent public planning process,” said Ansel Schimpf, who identified himself as executive director of a Duluth cyclists group and said he participated in a Lester Park working group. Schimpf and several other speakers said…