Two certified petitions — signed by more than 4,000 Duluthians each — give the voters the final say. And to be clear: we're not against housing at Lester — we're for making sure it fits the community need.
We're not against housing at Lester. The part of the property that can be responsibly developed should be considered for housing that meets Duluth's actual needs — homes working families can afford, at the depth of affordability the City's own studies say we're short of. If the City and a developer bring the voters a plan like that, we expect Duluthians to say yes. A public vote isn't a wall. It's a bar, and good projects clear it. It's also leverage: a developer and a council that need majority approval will come to the voters with real, funded affordability commitments — not requirements on paper with no money attached, which is what Lester Park got last time.
And we're clear-eyed about where this looks to be heading: a luxury golf resort. A luxury golf resort developer has bid to buy this land three times in the past fourteen years. The Mayor and Councilor Arik Forsman are on record saying they would like to see non-city-owned golf return to the site. The business model of a luxury golf resort isn't just golf — it's the large luxury homes built around the course. On this site, that would mean public parkland converted into a private course ringed with private estates: fertilizer and pesticides spread above streams that run to Lake Superior, and 200 football fields' worth of public land given over to mowed turf and private lots for the few, instead of habitat, trails, and open parkland for everyone. Public land should not be anyone's subsidized private playground.
The City can talk all it wants about the trails and open space that would come with a luxury golf resort — but that is lipstick on a pig.
In December 2025, the City Council approved an ordinance authorizing the future sale of the former Lester Park golf course property to a private developer. The land has not been sold — conditions in the City's own agreement must be met first. That is exactly why the public's voice matters now, while the land is still public: once parkland is sold, it is gone for good, and the one thing no future council can do is vote it back. Minnesota has always treated selling Duluth's parkland as extraordinary: a 1955 state law, written specifically for Duluth, requires a three-fourths vote of the planning commission and a four-fifths vote of the council before park property can be sold — and directs that ordinances under it follow the procedures of the City Charter. The petitions stand in that tradition and add one more safeguard: before the public's land passes into private hands, the public itself must approve. More than 4,000 Duluthians signed each petition to put that question on the November ballot. On July 27, the Council voted 7–2 to keep it off. That decision is now before the District Court.
Petition 1 — the upper 230 acres. This land is parkland today, and the petition keeps it that way unless the public agrees otherwise: before the City converts this parkland for private development, a majority of Duluth voters must approve. The public's land doesn't change hands without the public's consent.
Petition 2 — the lower 37.5 acres. This parcel was slated years ago for a development that never happened — nothing was built, and the land sits vacant in public hands. Petition 2 restores its park status through the City's own standard process, and applies the same rule going forward: converting it for private development requires the voters' approval.
What the petitions do NOT do. They don't prohibit housing at Lester Park, and they don't touch any permit or approval anywhere else in Duluth. They decide one thing: who gives the final answer before public parkland is turned over to private development. We think that should be the public.
Isn't this just a zoning dispute?
No. In December 2025 the Council approved an ordinance authorizing the sale of the golf course property to a private developer, and under the City's own agreement the sale cannot close until the land's park status is removed. That step is how the sale happens — which is why the petitions guard it. The question is simple: should parkland Duluthians own be sold to private hands without Duluthians' consent?
Are you against all development at Lester Park?
No. The portion that can be responsibly developed should be considered for housing that meets Duluth's actual needs, and a plan that does that can win a public vote. What we oppose is where this looks to be heading: a luxury golf resort — and the large luxury homes that come with that business model — on public parkland, serving the few at everyone's expense.
Is this a referendum?
No. These are initiative petitions under City Charter § 51 — proposals for new ordinances, a power Duluth's Charter has given its citizens since 1912. A referendum undoes a recently passed ordinance; an initiative proposes a new one. Nothing here undoes anything.
Does this ban housing at Lester Park?
No. Either parcel can be developed for housing — if a majority of Duluth voters approve. The petitions decide who decides, not what gets built.
Would this open the floodgates to petitions like this on every project?
Duluth has had this power since 1912. In 114 years it has been used on land use four times. Reaching the ballot takes signatures from 20% of the city's last-election voters; passing takes a citywide majority. Nobody runs that gauntlet over a routine project.
Where do things stand now?
Both petitions were certified as sufficient — more than 4,000 valid signatures each, against a threshold of 3,683. On July 27, 2026, the City Council voted 7–2 not to place them on the ballot. Whether the measures go before voters on November 3 is now before the St. Louis County District Court. Ballot questions must be certified to the County by August 11.
The petitions require a majority vote of Duluthians before Lester Park's public parkland can be converted and sold for private development.
These are initiative petitions under Duluth City Charter § 51, not a referendum. Press contact: Michael Bernstein, Our Park Our Vote — mbernstein04@gmail.com, 202.255.4590. Full ordinance text available on request.