Residents battle for dwindling golf courses

Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Lisa J. Huriash

Published April 29, 2010

TAMARAC -- Not that many years ago, retirees came to South Florida to enjoy the warm weather and, if they could arrange it, regularly step out their door, strap on a golf bag and saunter over to the links.

Today that idyllic portrait of life in the slow lane is fading, both for golfers and for their neighbors who relish a view of manicured greenery, tropical foliage and ponds, dotted with 9 or 18 tricky little holes.

In South Florida, as in the rest of the nation, golf courses are making their way onto the endangered species list. From 2005 through last year, 606 U.S. golf courses closed, more than ever before, according to Jim Kass, research director for the National Golf Foundation in Jupiter. In 2009 alone, 140 courses shut down, compared to 32 in 2001.

And in Florida, 14 golf courses closed last year, leaving 1,054 still in business across the state.

state-of-the-art course they can find," said attorney Dennis Mele, who represents owners seeking to rezone for other uses. "So they lower greens fees. That takes in less revenue, and when you take in less revenue, it's problematic."

Mele tried that argument on behalf of Edward Rack, owner of the Glades course at Colony West in Tamarac, but it didn't work. Rack wanted to rezone for 375 townhouses and two-story condos and nearly 52,000 square feet of commercial space.

Instead, on April 15 the city commission bowed to the wishes of residents seeking to preserve not only their views but, as they see it, a way of life.

The grandchildren of Ann Frank, a golf course resident who died last year at age 79, want to hang on to the lush spot where their father taught them to hit balls with clubs no taller than they were.

"My kids would love to see that view, even though they haven't been made yet," grandson Taylor Frank, 19, pleaded to commissioners. "If that view is gone, my house is pointless."

The battle continues in Tamarac. On Wednesday the commission will vote on another controversial golf course proposal, one that would put 255 single-family homes and nearly 61,000 square feet of commercial space on the Pines golf course at Woodmont.

The residents have launched an expensive protest, hiring attorneys and going to court.

"Most people who live in Woodmont bought their home purposely because they wanted to live on a green space," said Frankie Blankenship, whose house is on the 11th hole of the Pines course. As the meeting approaches, "I think we're all feeling very on edge," she said last week.

She could take heart from what happened three years ago in Sunrise, when commissioners killed a plan to develop the Sunrise Country Club golf course into a mixed-use project with up to 500 condominiums.

Neighbors complained the project would devour one of the city's last open spaces and destroy one of its oldest golf courses. The property owner complained it had been losing money for years.

"We fought the developer," Sunrise Commissioner Sheila Alu said. "Golf courses are dying. But I was strongly against developing pristine land, and killed the deal."

The Save Boca Raton Green Space committee hired a lawyer to kill plans to build 211 townhomes on part of the Ocean Breeze Golf & Country Club. The committee lost the battle, but the economy may still hand them victory in the war.

In 2007 the city approved townhouse construction on 30 acres of the course in the Boca Teeca subdivision, but the homeowners' legal challenge caused a delay. State approval finally came late last year.

In March, the developers got a notice of foreclosure for the golf course, and now the owners are working with the bank to extend a $7 million loan.

That leaves Robert DuKate, who lives on the golf course and chaired the Save Boca Raton Green Space committee, worried about declining property values.

"There's always a premium value on a view in an urban environment," he said. "That's being taken away."

Miramar rezoned the defunct Eagle Woods Golf Course three years ago to make way for the Foxcroft housing development, about 600 residences, but because of the economy, no homes have been built on the site.

In Deerfield Beach, developers are trying some variations on the theme of wholesale golf course conversions. The owner of the two Tam O'Shanter Golf Courses wants to give 77 of their 97 acres to the city. In exchange, the developer would be allowed to put 500 residences on the remaining 20 acres. That deal goes to the city planning board this summer.

Last week the Deerfield Beach City Commission voted to let the Deerfield Country Club convert 31 of its 74 acres into a business park, leaving a golf course on the rest of the property. The proposal is headed to the Broward County Commission.

Lauderhill's famous Inverrary golf courses are protected by deed restrictions that require, before there can be development, a 75 percent majority vote by neighboring property owners. So although three of the courses have gone to new owners in recent years, nothing has happened.

"A golf course is what people paid to see when they bought their homes," said Joel Leshinsky, the Inverrary Association president. "Progress is a wonderful thing, but it can't interfere with people's lives.''

Tamarac's mayor expects the golf course conversion issue to linger. She said the only way to keep developers at bay is to support the courses and help them thrive.

After the April 15 vote on Colony West, Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco asked residents to work with the Rack family "to come up with something" to improve the course's business. "The status quo doesn't work anymore," she said.

Norm Rack, the owner's son, scoffed at the mayor's suggestion and threatened to close the course this summer. Rezoning one of two courses for housing would have helped make it financially viable to keep the other course open, he argued.

After the vote, he had this to say about the residents who won: "They don't know what I'm going through."