Rackham Golf Course - Follow-up

December 22, 2006

A few months back I mentioned the sad situation surrounding the Rackham Golf Course, and I said I’d try to stay up-to-date on the matter. The course lies entirely within the city limits of Huntington Woods, but the fee simple owner of the acreage is the City of Detroit.

That said, the Course’s value in terms of cash-flow is only about $3 or $4M, much less* than Premium Golf, LLC’s generousoffer of $11.25M. What’s odd about this, is that I’m hoping for a court order to prevent the sale of this land, which, if conveyed by private parties, I would certainly side with the would-be sellers. If a private citizen, or a group of private citizens, or a corporation owned the 120-acre course, I would certainly understand the complaints of the Huntington Woods citizens, however I would take no particular interest in the case unless a court order prevented the sale. But, under these circumstances, there is just something unwholesome about Municipal ownership of property outside of the geographic limitations of its jurisdiction. There is something unwholesome about municipal ownership of property, in general, because of the conflicts inherent in any body politic.

I suppose when the battle comes down to two Munis, I’d prefer to see the preference given to the home jurisdiction. Governments don’t have property rights in any proper sense of the words. Governments don’t have any rights - all they have are powers. The citizens, though, have rights. I don’t believe that the HW citizens have a “right” to a golf-course view, nor do they have a “right” to the inflated property values resultant from their fortunate milieu. But they do certainly have the “right” to be free from any actions taken by the City of Detroit, that do not exist within the geographic limitations of the City of Detroit, just as they would have the “right” to be free from any action taken by the city of Mogadishu, Somalia, or by Newark, NJ. There are necessary limitations to the powers of any government, and I’d suggest for starters that those limits begin absolutely at whatever at the border of whatever land over which the government claims jurisdiction.

about $3M if you are satisfied with a 3% return.


Posted in: Legalese

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