Controversial Pierce County golf course is now part of an eminent domain dispute
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- PenMet Parks filed an eminent domain petition May 26 to acquire 14 acres of Madrona Links.
- The owners of the 14-acre parcel plan to dispute PenMet's eminent domain authority.
- Parties have been unable to agree on the land’s value.
More than a year after board members authorized the use of eminent domain to take over the privately-owned portion of the Madrona Links Golf Course, PenMet Parks is taking action.
The park district filed a petition in eminent domain in Pierce County Superior Court May 26, asking the court to support their acquisition of 14 privately-owned acres of the 94-acre course.
Madrona Links is located just outside Gig Harbor city limits at 3604 22nd Ave. NW. For months, it’s been at the center of a convoluted dispute between the park district and several private parties over who’s responsible for maintaining and improving the aging course, which PenMet Parks says has suffered from bumpy cart paths, unhealthy turf and septic problems in recent years.
In a May 28 update posted to their website, the park district described eminent domain as their “only remaining option” after two years of trying to reach an agreement with ZTM Holdings, LLC, the private party that owns the 14-acre parcel.
“Unfortunately, it is now clear that unless PenMet Parks exercises its eminent domain authority the public will lose access to the land and Madrona Links will be forced to consolidate to a 9-hole golf course,” PenMet Parks wrote.
David Osgood, an attorney for ZTM, said in a phone call Monday that ZTM plans to oppose PenMet Parks’ eminent domain petition, in part by disputing the park district’s authority to use eminent domain on a golf course.
“The eminent domain statutes are very specific in the types of property you can seize and the purposes you can seize it for,” he said. “And golf courses just aren’t one of those, aren’t one of those emergency decisions that require seizure of land.”
The park district’s website says that the eminent domain litigation is “not expected to impact Madrona Links operations.”
Madrona Links Golf Course is the only public golf course in the Gig Harbor area. PenMet Parks owns 80 acres of the 18-hole course, and ZTM owns the remaining 14.
The unusual ownership structure is due to how the course was established. The city of Tacoma initially owned the land that PenMet owns, leasing it in 1977 to a private family, the Tysons, for the purpose of developing and running it as a golf course. Because that property wasn’t big enough for a full 18-hole course, the Tysons purchased another 14 acres next to it. They later sold that 14-acre parcel to ZTM Holdings, an LLC formed by Gig Harbor accountants Zack Rosenbloom and Mark Owen.
A complicated lease structure led to disputes about who’s responsible for making improvements to the course. The Tyson family directly ran the golf course for years before subleasing operations to a third party, JDL, Inc. in 1986. Stutsman Enterprise, Inc. took over from JDL in 2014, according to The News Tribune’s reporting.
In January 2025, ZTM and Tyson Limited Partnership, an inactive Washington limited partnership representing the Tyson family, filed a $6 million lawsuit against PenMet Parks and Stutsman Enterprise. The plaintiffs alleged that PenMet Parks and Stutsman were unlawfully occupying ZTM’s 14-acre parcel, and that Stutsman, not Tyson, should not be held responsible for the course’s deficiencies, The News Tribune reported. Court records indicate the lawsuit is pending.
Beaumont Baily, an attorney for Tyson Limited Partnership, wrote via email Monday that the “Tyson parties do not have comment on eminent domain.”
“That is an issue between PenMet and ZTM,” he wrote.
The park district also says on its website that it’s still working to transition the golf course to a new management company, Troon Golf.
“While PenMet Parks is working to complete the management transition, the parties have not been able to agree on when that will occur,” the website says.
PenMet Parks previously said Troon Golf would take over the course last summer, promising golfers that the switch would lead to better service and course conditions, The News Tribune reported. The park district later reported that the transition would be delayed due to Stutsman’s alleged “refusal to cooperate.”
Matthew Stutsman, the registered agent for Stutsman Enterprise, Inc., maintained in court records that the business has kept Madrona Links “in a good, clean, sanitary, and orderly condition.” Last August, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Susan Adams granted Stutsman a temporary restraining order blocking PenMet from removing his business from the property; another judge, Timothy L. Ashcraft, denied a preliminary injunction last September that would have blocked PenMet from removing Stutsman until the case is resolved, court records show.
PenMet Parks’ spokesperson Brynn Grimley confirmed in a phone call Tuesday that Stutsman is still running Madrona Links. The park district hasn’t removed Stutsman in part because a mediation process planned for last December was postponed until April of this year, she said. The park district’s website says that PenMet, Stutsman Enterprise, Tyson and ZTM attempted to reach a resolution via mediation this spring but were unsuccessful.
The News Tribune reached out to attorneys representing Stutsman Enterprise early Monday afternoon, to ask for comment on the eminent domain litigation and any updates on the switch to Troon Golf. Attorney Clay Selby wrote in an email later that day that he wouldn’t have time to immediately confer with his client and comment that day.
It’s not clear how long it could take for PenMet Parks to receive a court judgment on their eminent domain petition. ZTM has accepted service of the filing, and has 20 days from that point to answer the petition, PenMet Parks spokesperson Grimley wrote in an email Monday. ZTM can ask for more time and it is up to the court to decide whether to grant it, she explained.
“Ultimately we can’t give an exact timeframe for how long this could take, but the District remains committed to prioritizing the acquisition of this property to ensure the continued operation of Madrona Links Golf Course as a public 18-hole course,” she wrote.
It’s not unusual for park districts to pursue eminent domain, Hugh Spitzer, a University of Washington law professor, previously told The News Tribune. As a metropolitan park district, PenMet Parks is subject to the rules outlined in RCW 35.61.130, which states that park districts may acquire land via eminent domain for “public parks, parkways, boulevards, aviation landings, and playgrounds.”
Spitzer explained the rules that govern eminent domain in the state require that the land be of public use and necessity, and that the public body taking the land pay the owners adequate compensation. This compensation is determined either through negotiation between the parties or a jury decision.
PenMet Parks and ZTM have not been able to come to an agreement on the value of the 14-acre parcel. In July 2024, PenMet Parks offered ZTM $2.49 million for the land, based on a professional appraisal. ZTM refused that offer, returning with a different appraisal that said the land was worth $8.1 million; they later adjusted their asking price to $5.3 million. PenMet Parks refused that offer, The News Tribune reported.
Tyson Limited Partnership sold the 14 acres to ZTM for $1 million in 2023, according to Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer records.
On Monday, Osgood said that ZTM is now open to taking $2.49 million for the parcel.
“We would take it,” he said. “I mean, we would certainly have to think hard on it, but I believe we would take it, yes.”
But ZTM isn’t willing to accept the “vastly reduced price” determined by the most recent appraisal, he said.
That appraisal happened last December, and set the land’s value at $470,000, according to PenMet Parks’ spokesperson Grimley.
“As a public agency, PenMet Parks legally can only pay fair market value of the property,” she wrote Monday. “The last appraisal valued the land at $470,000. If the fair market value amount changes, either up or down, that is legally what PenMet Parks can pay.”
The appraised value dropped because of changes to Pierce County zoning regulations, as part of the county’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update, she explained. Those changes affected the golf course property and surrounding areas of unincorporated Pierce County.
“The court will identify the amount owed at the time of the ruling based on information presented in the court documents,” she wrote.
Osgood, ZTM’s attorney, told The News Tribune that he sent a letter to PenMet Parks’ attorney in April with ZTM’s latest offer: a lease to allow PenMet Parks the right to use the 14-acre parcel for a public golf course while ZTM remains the owner.
“ ... we will offer a long-term lease, which will secure the property as a functional golf course for as long as PenMet maintains Madrona Links Golf Course as a public use,” the letter reads. “Under this proposal, a reasonable rent schedule will be negotiated, and PenMet will insure and pay the property taxes for the parcel. ZTM will have no hand in its operation. We believe this secures the interests of both PenMet and provides ZTM a return on its investment.”
PenMet Parks rejected that proposal, shared the new appraisal value and then filed their eminent domain petition, said Osgood. He told The News Tribune he suspects ZTM will do their own property valuation.
“We’re realists,” Osgood said. “We’ve given up any notion of running or operating the golf course. We have the property. We have no plans of changing it, but we do want to hold onto it.”
