Following a meeting with the Killearn Homeowners Association on Tuesday night, the owner of the Killearn Country Club met with club members on Wednesday night.
The meeting was held to inform the members about the redevelopment plan. Tallahassee Reports previously published a story about the plan.
Approximately 150 people attended the meeting and Barton Tuck, the club owner, made the same presentation he had made to the Killearn Homeeowners Association the night before.
Two homeowners who live on the North course spoke out strongly against the redevelopment during the question and answer session. Both threatened legal action.
Other members seemed more concern about the transition period and how dues would be handled while the renovation was being completed.
Mr. Tuck said the plan could take up to two years to complete and many issues would have to be resolved though discussions with the many stake holders.
For example, Bruce Conroy, a homeowner on the North course and club member, asked who would fund the maintenance requirements for the proposed conservation easement on the North course? Mr. Tuck said “it will have to be worked out.”
For the first time diagrams of the plan were presented.
The diagram above shows how parking, a new clubhouse, the driving range and a putting green will all be located closer to what is now the eighteenth green. The pool and the tennis court will remain in their current location.
The part of the course that will be sold off for funds to renovate the club include the Inn, the driving range, and holes 7 through 9 of the North course. This area is located in the middle-right of picture above.
Mr. Tuck told the members he needs their support for the plan and that a ballot will be sent out in the next couple of weeks.
If the measure fails to pass, Mr. Tuck said one option for him would be to sell the club and “go back home.”
But he cautioned, a new owner may choose to close the club and sell all the land to a developer who could build single family homes on the golf course property after 2021.
First Drawings of Killearn Country Club Renovation Released added by Staff on
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This grainy photograph with sharpie writing is the first “drawing”? There is now a house located approximately where the proposed new driving range is supposed to end…
It is a simple fact that something must be done to save the golf course as it cannot continue to function as is. Scraping the north or “back nine” by sell off and ultimate disposal for possible conversion to apartments in order to create redevelopment funds for the first 18 holes and club house is certainly one of several options. . The conservation easement will buffet some homeowners from multifamily units of which density must be kept to the lowest zoning level (12 units per acre vs. the most dense of 16 units per acre). Remainder owners could be offered the difference between golf course frontage value and non frontage value ,(or possible buy out) , subject to negotiations, that if properly and fairly handled , could avoid time delay law suits. The end product would be the saving of the Killearn Golf Course that was the center of the Estates development in the mid 1960’s, and a continuing desirable amenity for home ownership in the Estates! The alternate of a redeveloper that may well scrap the whole course in 2021 (6 years from now) and fill the former course with additional housing after it has been abandoned those 6 years , could well be a much less desirable scenario.
There is a complete lack of information here. The entire Killearn community is being asked to support a plan on short notice to remove the conservation easment on all of the North Course without any maps, plats, or renderings to show the location of the new proposed home sites or conservation areas. Further no information has been provided as to how the funds will be obtained to complete the renovations, since the funds obtained from the proposed sale of property will be insufficient to pay debt and complete all amenities. There has also not been a commitment to extend the conservation easment on the original. If this plan is real, it should be put in writing and properly presented to the entire Killearn community for consideration.
Typical developer response to push back to his plans.