A discussion about a proposed sports park in Lent Township, in western Chisago County, has taken on racial overtones because the facility could attract many Hmong soccer teams, the landowner says.
Hundreds of people have showed up at recent township planning and zoning commission meetings to oppose granting a permit to convert a 90-acre plot of land into the sports park and a farmers and flea market.
Song Anderson, who bought the land a few years ago, has said the proposed sports park, on land about 15 miles south of North Branch, would attract many Southeast Asian-American families, as well as local residents. As a result, many residents have made the debate about the facility a "race issue," she said.
"Our hope is to bring anyone who wants to play sports," said Anderson, 48, who lives in Brooklyn Park and owns a small real estate company, KSA Properties, with her husband, Kent Anderson. "It's not just for Hmongs, it's for everyone."
Residents have raised concerns about traffic, security and parking, and the planning commission has cited those concerns in unanimously voting against the project.
The proposal for the complex, which would be located near a golf course at 32695 Falcon Av., was first presented to officials more than a year ago. Until recently, only minor concerns were expressed.
Anderson said the plan needed and has undergone revisions. The initial application for the conditional-use permit stated that the land would be used for "an outside sports park, farmers market/flea market, paintball field and Bible camp." The application was reworded to remove the paintball field and Bible camp, and was finalized in July.
As now proposed, the sports park would feature soccer fields with a few tennis and basketball courts. There would be a fee for use of the sports park, but the farmers and flea markets would be free and open to the public.
'Public outcry'
Town Board member Gene Olson said although one of the biggest complaints about the proposal is that such a facility would bring traffic and noise to the area, residents are also upset that it could attract large numbers of Hmong athletes and fans.
"The public outcry is this — it was advertised to focus on the Hmong community," Olson said. "There's nothing wrong with it. They have a right to establish a business here."
About 20 residents who attended the first public hearing in August objected to the project saying not enough people knew about it, Anderson said. "I didn't go [that meeting] because I'm Hmong and I didn't want to make it a racial issue," she said. "But then it became a race issue."
Anderson attended the second public hearing in September, at which some residents voiced concerns and "bias about Hmong," she said. They said, "Why do you come to our community? We don't want you here," she said.
Anderson said the residents booed and were "hostile" toward the planning committee during that hearing.
The commission discussed safety issues after a resident described the annual Hmong soccer tournament in St. Paul, regularly attended by several thousand people and staffed by many police officers.
During the third public hearing on Oct. 8, Anderson told the residents to "erase" the comparison between the annual Hmong tournament in St. Paul to the sports park because "it's not the same."
The full Lent Town Board will vote on whether to grant the permit request Tuesday night.
Karen Zamora • 612-673-4647
Twitter: @KarenAnelZamora
