School District Says Robsons Don't Stand to Gain From St. Croix Meadows Dog Track Sale

During the Superintendent's Report portion of the last Board of Education meeting held on May 8, Superintendent Mary Bowen-Eggebraaten took some time to quell a rumor.

The rumor circulating was that David and Lynn Robson—a member of the school board—stood to benefit from the St. Croix Meadows sale to the Hudson School District because David Robson is an associate at Greystone Commercial.

Bowen-Eggebraaten presented a letter the district received from attorney Dennis J. Neeser representing the property sellers. The letter begins, "You have inquired on behalf of the Hudson School Board of any financial or beneficial relationship between the ownership group of the Track and Greystone Commercial Real Estate Company, or its principals, including David Robson. There is none."

Later in the meeting, North Hudson resident Curt Weese spoke about how Greystone Commercial may indirectly benefit from the dog track sale. 

"When you take a third of the commercial property off the tax rolls, what happens to the other two-thirds? that Greystone seems to own a lot of," Weese said. "I have seen a lot of Vote Yes signs on their properties. They own a lot of that remaining commercial property, so how is it not a conflict of interest for Ms. Robson to sit up here and vote any rezoning or anything to do with this property when you take one third of the commercial property off the market thereby increasing the value of the remaining property, which her husband has a stake in as an associate at Greystone?" 

Weese then called for Lynn Robson to recuse herself from any of the St. Croix Meadows property discussions.

Lynn Robson firmly responded to the charge.

"Greystone is a real estate group, they don't own real estate in Hudson. So, I'd appreciate you researching your facts a little bit more before you're speaking publicly and on TV so people don't hear an opinion that isn't true," Robson said. "Greystone has represented the district in the past, when I wasn't a board member, for the purchase of the administrative services center. The district was favorable toward that relationship and if I wasn't a board member, they probably would have engaged the services of Greystone. So, not only am I not gaining, because my husband can't be involved in a commission or a real estate transaction, but we're losing because we aren't. And we're being accused falsely in the community of that."

On April 3, to purchase the St. Croix Meadows property for use as a future secondary school site. The deal can still be blocked if the City of Hudson rejects the district's request to rezone the land from commercial use to public use. .