Green space? Forsyth residents split over golf course purchase

The Lanier Golf Club outside of Cumming is 172 acres of grass and trees, but is it green space? Or parkland? Or a boondoggle waiting for a buyer?

Forsyth County residents and the Board of Commissioners are divided over whether the county should purchase the course with money set aside for parks and recreation.

Supporters say it could save the land from development, as a builder has proposed, and it would be a recreational asset.

Those opposed wonder if the $12 million for the course would be better spent elsewhere, such as for 84 acres of forest for sale on nearby Echols Road. They point out the nearly 40-year-old course has shut down twice in the past and wonder if it would be a money loser for the county.

A public meeting to discuss the purchase will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Mashburn Elementary School at 3777 Samples Road in Cumming.

Commissioner Jim Boff, in whose district the course lies, said local Democratic and Republican parties held polls in recent years on whether the course should be saved from redevelopment. Both voted yes.

"No other piece of property can have [that] said about it," Boff said.

Commissioner Patrick Bell said, "I don't think we ought to be in the golf business."

New parks are high on the agenda for Forsyth County residents, but this potential purchase has them as divided as the Board of Commissioners. The board has been getting feedback from people on both sides. In 2008, voters easily passed a $100 million bond program to buy parks and green space. The county bought 750 acres and is building new recreation facilities. But Boff's district has seen only one, small bond-money purchase worth $250,000.

Ken Leach, who lives near the course and favors the county buying it, said, "The neighborhood is really upset about the lack of money spent here out of the bonds passed by the voters. It's really unfair."

Commissioner Jim Harrell, who supports the purchase, said a combination of bond money, SPLOST taxes and impact fees could pay for the course, so taxpayers would not be burdened during a time when county budgets are shrinking. Also, a business partner, Affiniti Golf Partners of Alpharetta, has offered to pay $3 million toward the purchase price in exchange for a 99-year lease to operate the course. If the course failed, the property would revert to the county, he said.

Kristin Morrissey, who worked on the citizen committee to pass the bonds, wonders why the county would want to pay anything for it.

"It's already there now," and anyone can play on it, she said. "If we pay $12 million, what do we get for it?"

The danger of redevelopment of the course is stalled with the real estate crash, she said.

The company behind the proposed redevelopment, Wellstone Communities, is in bankruptcy.

Instead, the money could be used to build more promised recreation centers, develop parks or buy undeveloped land, Morrissey said.

Harrell said buying the course would make it impossible for future developers to try the same thing. He thinks the approximately $52,000 an acre the county would have in its $9 million share would be a good price.