Article Courtesy of The Tampa Tribune

By Dave Nicholson

Published May 28, 2015

PLANT CITY — The board of the association that represents Walden Lake’s homeowners has voted to join the legal fight against proposed development of a closed golf course.

The Walden Lake Community Association’s leadership voted 5-4 this week to become a party to the lawsuit filed in January to stop rezoning of the shuttered Walden Lake course. The suit was filed by a group that includes homeowners who live on the course, known as The Hills.

 

Harley Herman, a Walden Lake resident and Plant City attorney who filed the lawsuit, said the community association’s decision to join the legal battle gives his side more legal clout. “The community association represents the entire community,” Herman said. “They own common areas in Walden Lake. It was a common progression that they would want to join in.” The legal battle was touched off when Visions Golf LLC, owner of the financially troubled Walden Lake Golf and Country Club, closed the 18-hole The Hills course in 2013. Homeowners who paid a premium for homes on a golf course lined up in opposition to Visions’ request to the city to rezone the land for construction of hundreds of homes and an adult congregate living facility.

Walden Lake's overall homeowners association decides to join the fight against plans to redevelop a closed golf course.

Visions said the course wasn’t turning a profit and that the company would use the cash from the sale of the closed course to upgrade a sister golf course known as The Lakes and rebuild or replace the aging country club.

Herman said he wasn’t surprised that the community association wanted to fight the rezoning, too, because he believes the closure of The Hills course affects the entire subdivision of more than 2,200 homes.

Visions Golf Managing Partner Steve Mercer said he was disappointed in the decision to enter the legal battle.

“This ill-conceived attempt by a portion of the board of directors to bind the entire Walden Lake homeowner’s association in a lawsuit will only serve to delay and diminish the ability of any developer to restore and maintain a golf course and the club amenities at Walden Lake,” he said.

The association’s president, Robert Hunter, couldn’t be reached for comment.

City planners hope to schedule the rezoning request for a July 9 planning board agenda. The planning board would make a recommendation to city commissioners, who likely would hold a public hearing in August or early September.

Mercer sent a letter to country club members saying that Visions Golf considered closing The Lakes course after May 3 pending renovations. Visions decided against closure of the remaining course, Mercer said Thursday.