LYNN HAVEN — A developer is proposing closing Nature Walk Golf Club in Lynn Haven and replacing it with a residential development.
But at its initial public airing, the proposal was rejected by the Lynn Haven Planning Commission on Tuesday.
Developer Royal American proposed a tentative plan to convert the course into 150 single family homes, although Royal American representative John Lewis said the development likely would not include that many homes.
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The reason commission member Jerry Whitworth voted against the land use change was because surrounding home owners had purchased property based on the location of a golf course. A common refrain among the 13 Meadows neighborhood residents who spoke at the meeting was that their property values would decrease.
“I don’t like the idea of one man coming in and changing the rules in the middle of the game,” Whitworth said.
Commission member Bill Fitzgerald voted against it because the city cannot afford to lose any more green or recreational spaces.
Lewis said Royal American has lost money on the course almost every year the company has owned it, since they purchased it in the late 1990s from the city of Lynn Haven. He said it loses tens of thousands of dollars annually, even as much as $100,000. He added that no golf course operators have offered to buy the course.
“Golf has just gone down,” Lewis said. “We’re trying to make lemonade out of lemons.”
The course is open to the public and Tuesday afternoon just an hour before the meeting, the course was active. Four men were hitting balls on the driving range and several other groups were just starting rounds. Kirsten Johnson, who works in the course snack shop, estimated the course had 200 golfers on Tuesday based on computer records. Snowbirds Diane Cormier, of New Brunswick, Canada, and John Schwandner of Springfield, Illinois were among the players that also included weekly regulars Ryan Ransburgh and John Trevillian, both of Callaway.
“There’s no way the course is not making money,” Ransburgh said. “In the summer time, it’s hard as Hell to get a tee time.”
With an avalanche of public criticism — the Lynn Haven Commission room was packed with two rows of people standing behind the normal allotment of chairs — Lewis suggested tabling a decision until a traffic study was completed. Lewis viewed traffic concern as a top priority.
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The commission did make a motion to table the land use change, which lost on a 2-3 vote and then Whitworth made a motion to approve the land use, which died for a lack of a second.
The concern residents like Elizabeth MacLean broached in terms of traffic was that the subdivision had only three proposed entrances — Harvard, Farrell and Bob Jones Roads — that cut through the existing residential area. Royal American engineer Sean McNeill said the change in traffic for State 390 would be less than a 1 percent increase. But MacLean countered that the engineer did not consider the traffic change for the Meadows neighborhood.
The Planning Commission vote is a recommendation to the City Commission, which will consider the land use change Tuesday.