Article Courtesy of The Orlando Sentinel

By Mary Shanklin  

Published February 8, 2015

       
The rolling fairways at DeLand Country Club are about to become shops and houses with the help of state incentives to clean up polluted areas known as brownfields.

Developers say Florida's tax credits were essential in transforming the weedy course into Country Club Corners shopping center, anchored by a Publix. It's one of a handful of Florida golf courses that have been redeveloped with financial assistance from the state, and it could signal redevelopment opportunities for owners of struggling and closed courses.

"It was terrible because they let it go," said Wilbanks, daughter of a professional golfer. "I was hoping that they would keep part of it as a nine-hole golf course and build around it."

She said she would prefer that a portion of state-subsidized golf-course redevelopments be left for the enjoyment of the public with parks and green space. Elsewhere in Central Florida, sites for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and Mills Park are among brownfield projects that reclaimed polluted property.

"Without the state tax credits, we could not have done this," said James Gendreau, president of Tailwinds Development. I missed the part where he said they were going to pay back the tax dollars by sharing the profits they make from this deal. Why is that part always left out of the...

State-designated brownfields are a "redevelopment tool" aimed at sparking construction, jobs and green space, according to the Department of Environmental Protection. In exchange for cleaning up a site, developers get corporate-income-tax credits, which they can sell. Developers' incentives increase if they build affordable housing and health-care facilities on brownfield sites. In addition, the state allows $2,500 for every job created on the property and breaks on sales taxes for construction materials.

Gendreau, who is redeveloping DeLand Country Club, lives near the Twin Rivers golf course and said he understands residents of golf-course communities might not be thrilled with state incentives that lead to redevelopment of their long vistas and stretches of Bermuda grass.

But, he added, the state's tax-credit reimbursement for voluntarily cleaning up pesticides and other pollutants can improve blighted and abandoned courses.

"I am a developer, yes. I understand the concern," he said. "At the end of the day, the DeLand Country Club is overgrown with weeds and grass and animals. It was nasty. Who is going to pay to mow that? If you do responsible development, you can live up to expectations."

Golf courses across the Orlando area and the rest of the nation continue to close as the sport loses players. Rock Springs Ridge golf course in Apopka is the latest in a string of closings that has included Sabal Point in Longwood, Winter Springs, Rolling Hills in Altamonte Springs and Rosemont in Orlando. In addition to those, owners of golf courses in Casselberry and Twin Rivers in Oviedo have proposed redeveloping at least part of the playing area with apartments and houses.

University of Florida economic researcher Alan W. Hodges said "young people" aren't taking up the game as much as previous generations, and golf-course developments have declined in popularity.

"People don't value that amenity as much as they used to," he said recently.

Despite the long-standing incentives for brownfields, most developers have shied from investing in golf courses.

"People see golf courses and hear environmental problems and then walk away," said Michael Sznapstajler, a Daytona Beach attorney and past president of the nonprofit Florida Brownfields Association, with members including environmental lawyers and engineers.

Sznapstajler worked with Tailwinds Development in assessing pollution at DeLand Country Club and remediating it in order to qualify the project for brownfield incentives.

"Brownfield is a viable option and something to look into," he said recently. "It provides some incentives that would not allow the project to move forward if it were not for the program."