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If Eagan voters tell the city to buy the former Carriage Hills Golf Course in November, the land will be used for public facilities and recreation, as well as open space, the City Council decided this week.

Eagan voters will decide at the general election whether the city should buy the 120-acre site for $10 million, plus about $250,000 in bond fees and other expenses.

The vote is part of a contingent settlement reached after a four-year legal battle that pitted the city against the golf course's owner and a would-be developer over a plan to build homes on the site.

The council told the city's attorney Tuesday night to include those three uses in a ballot question that will come back for final approval at the council's Sept. 2 meeting.

The council wanted to draft ballot language that would give voters an idea of how the land would be used, without getting so detailed that the city would be boxed into a plan that might not fit the future needs of residents, city spokesman Tom Garrison said.

The city will mail residents a fact sheet in October with more information about possible plans at Carriage Hills, he said.

SARAH LEMAGIE