Former Cottage Grove golf course to reopen as riverside city park

A park with sweeping views of the Mississippi River and easy access to a backwater channel will soon open to the public on the former Mississippi Dunes Golf Links in Cottage Grove.

The city bought the parcel last month and plans to open the gates by Labor Day after landscaping and a cleanup of the site, said city parks Director Zac Dockter.

"The number one goal has always been public access to the Mississippi River," Dockter said. "That was always the vision."

The city's plans to develop a riverside park became a possibility after the golf course went out of business in 2017. Private investor David Gustafson bought the land, and city officials said he signaled that he was open to selling a portion of it to Cottage Grove.

The city approved an agreement Feb. 15 to pay Gustafson $1 million for a 20-acre parcel, with half of the money coming from a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources grant and the rest from Washington County's Land and Water Legacy Program. The deal closed June 30.

The city's plan calls for minimal changes to the land, mostly adding trails and maintaining the golf cart paths for bikes and pedestrians. The spot overlooks the river channel known as Mooers Lake, a shallow stretch of water that draws kayakers and canoers.

"You're in a really big metropolitan area, but you've got this unique, remote river area with gorgeous vegetation," said City Administrator Jennifer Levitt. "You're on a backwater, so it's great for paddling."

The city hopes to develop a partnership with the National Park Service because the river is a major flyway for migrating birds, Levitt said.

An environmental review of the property found it was home to vegetation such as Hill's thistle and Purple Sandgrass, along with such bird species as the Henslow's sparrow, Loggerhead Shrike and Lark Sparrow. The review said the site also has potential to be a habitat for the state bee, the endangered rusty patched bumblebee.

The park is the first of several land deals expected as portions of the nearly 200-acre golf course property are divvied up to become a city park, a 90-acre housing development and a 12-acre expansion of the adjacent Grey Cloud Dunes Scientific and Natural Area, a state-managed 238 acres that are home to rare species.

The residential development would sit to the north of the new city park; the development site is under option by Rachel Development of St. Michael, Minn.

As a part of the residential development plan, the city was also granted 10 acres to the west of the new park that could become the home of a four-season building, playground, boat launch, outdoor classroom, picnic area and other features if voters approve a half-cent sales tax expected to be on the ballot next year. The tax would raise about $17 million necessary for the improvements, Levitt said.