Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - After property owners death and battle over his will Eagan green space will be preserved - 1/19/20241/19/24, 11:49 AM After property owner's death — and battle over his will — Eagan green space will be preserved
https://www.startribune.com/after-property-owners-death-and-battle-over-his-will-eagan-green-space-will-be-preserved/600336729/1/3
SOUTH MET RO
After property owner's death — and
battle over his will — Eagan green space
will be preserved
A 134-acre property worth $10 million had been the subject of a legal
battle involving multiple wills; it will now be preserved as farmland
and wildlife habitat.
By Erin Adler (https://www.startribune.com/erin-adler/6370491/) Star Tribune
JANUARY 1 8, 2024 — 2:00PM
A rare expanse of undeveloped land in Eagan — recently the subject of a legal battle
involving multiple wills — will be preserved as farmland and wildlife habitat and
overseen by a board of conservation-minded local residents.
The three parcels of land — 134 acres in all — were owned by Patrick McCarthy until he
died in April 2023. The land, a mix of farmland, wetlands, lakes and woods, had been in
the McCarthy family since the 1850s when James McCarthy immigrated to Minnesota
from County Cork, Ireland.
The property, located west of Lexington Avenue and bisected by Wescott Road, is among
the last few large green spaces in Eagan and is worth more than $10 million. After
McCarthy's death, its future stewardship was unclear
(https://www.startribune.com/battle-of-two-wills-an-eagan-property-owners-death-sets-
off-a-legal-battle-for-last-big-green-spaces/600310665/) , with both a McCarthy family
member and a friend claiming McCarthy had left them the land to preserve.
In the fall, a judge ruled in favor of Lee Markell, a landscape architect, land protection
specialist and friend of McCarthy's. Now, Markell is overseeing the work to ensure the
land remains undeveloped, as McCarthy intended.
"He told me what he would like to see happen with that land," Markell said of
McCarthy, whose will directed his estate to be placed in an organization called
"McCarthy Family Habitat Forever." "He didn't want to make any drastic moves until
after he was gone."
Now, decisions about how to preserve the land will be made by a newly formed six-
member board, which plans to meet again next week.
Members are talking with real estate attorneys and trying to decide the best way to
oversee Patrick McCarthy's wishes, Markell said.
An aerial view of the McCarthy land.
New plan for Eagan land
New foundation will work to conserve 134
acres of farmland and forest.
E A G A N
De
1/19/24, 11:49 AM After property owner's death — and battle over his will — Eagan green space will be preserved
https://www.startribune.com/after-property-owners-death-and-battle-over-his-will-eagan-green-space-will-be-preserved/600336729/2/3
The land will most likely be protected by a conservation easement, Markell said.
McCarthy had already donated 29 of the 134 acres to the county as a conservation
easement in 2004.
"It's my understanding that the only way to legally see that land preserved is to get it
into a conservation easement," Markell said. "The conservation easement wouldn't let
any development occur, residential or commercial."
Ryan Stanton, who once acted as McCarthy's power of attorney and is now president of
the new board, said fulfilling McCarthy's wishes for the land was "an honor and a labor
of love."
McCarthy's wishes
The court's decision — and the board's formation — ostensibly ends the legal debate over
what would happen with the land.
At issue had been which of multiple wills presented to the court was the legally binding
version.
Jodi McCarthy, a cousin of Patrick McCarthy's who grew up visiting her grandparents
every weekend on the McCarthy property as a child, argued in court that Patrick
McCarthy intended to keep the land in the family by leaving it to her.
He gave her a copy of his will, which had a blank space after the place where the estate's
beneficiary was supposed to be listed. The will was designed so that whoever agreed to
preserve the land would be the beneficiary, she said.
That person was supposed to be her, Jodi McCarthy said.
She had planned to keep the land natural, too, but had plans for a campground,
community gardens, an observation tower and an area for historical re-enactments.
But a judge ultimately sided with Markell, who was working for Dakota County,
monitoring the county's conservation easements as a contractor, when he met Patrick
McCarthy in 2016.
After several years, Markell said he earned McCarthy's trust and the two talked about
McCarthy's long-term wishes for his land. The judge ultimately concluded that the will
presented by Markell was the only one that was complete and was witnessed by two
individuals.
Jodi McCarthy, who called the legal process exhausting and heartbreaking, disputes that
decision. She said she still may sue the county or Markell, adding that she's willing to go
to jail to expose the American justice system as "corrupt."
For now, though, the board's preservation work continues.
Markell recalled McCarthy as an "interesting eccentric" and a private, practical man
with a good sense of humor. He "had a memory like a trap" and enjoyed fixing
equipment, like tractors, instead of replacing it with something new, Markell said.
Most of all, he loved his land and wanted it preserved for perpetuity.
"We'd like to keep doing stuff as if Pat was still here," Markell said.
A DV E RT I S E M E N T
(https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/GH5IFM3NRH
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY H AYDEN STA NTON
A sign on the McCarthy farm includes its
location in Eagan.
1/19/24, 11:49 AM After property owner's death — and battle over his will — Eagan green space will be preserved
https://www.startribune.com/after-property-owners-death-and-battle-over-his-will-eagan-green-space-will-be-preserved/600336729/3/3
Erin Adler is a suburban reporter covering Dakota and Scott counties for the Star Tribune, working
breaking news shifts on Sundays. She previously spent three years covering K-12 education in the south
metro and five months covering Carver County.
erin.adler@startribune.com 612-673-1781
(https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/DSTW4YTEG5
auto=format,compress&cs=tinysrgb&)
Patrick McCarthy.