The owner of Carriage Hills Golf Club and a developer that wants to build houses on the property have sued the city of Eagan, claiming that the city effectively took the property without just compensation by denying a zoning change.

Wensmann Realty has proposed building 480 housing units, including single-family homes and townhouses, on the 120-acre site south of Yankee Doodle Road and east of Lexington Avenue. Owner Ray Rahn says the golf course is a money-loser.

The Eagan City Council voted Aug. 2 against a request to rezone the property to allow low-density residential development. In the lawsuit, Wensmann and Rahn ask a court to order the city to grant the rezoning request, arguing in part that their constitutional rights were violated.

The city's attorney, John Baker of Minneapolis, said Wensmann and Rahn, who bought the course in the 1990s, were hoping to make a federal case out of a "garden variety" zoning dispute. Zoning and use of the property have been consistent for decades and there was no reason to expect that the city would change the zoning, he said.

An attorney for Wensmann and Rahn could not be reached for comment.