GANANDA, N.Y. – The owners of Blue Heron Golf Club in Gananda just filed plans showing new homes on the fairways and the neighbors aren’t happy about it.
“This is hole 9,” Ricky Howcroft said. “And I believe there are seven or eight houses that will go down the fairway.”
Howcroft grew up in Gananda and now lives along the golf course. The plan filed by the Blue Heron owner with the Walworth Planning Board shows homes running along the 9th hole fairway. The plan shows 47 new homes covering at least three of the 18 holes.
Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “How do you feel?”
Ricky Howcroft, lives on Blue Heron Golf Club: “Disappointed. Frustrated. Earlier in the summer it was all lies and rumors. So obviously there was validity to what we heard.”
Joe Bruening moved here two years ago from a crowded suburb in Buffalo.
Berkeley Brean: “Joe, if you had known they were going to build homes on the course by your house, would you have bought it?”
Joe Bruening, moved from Buffalo to live on Blue Heron Golf Club: “Absolutely not. That was one of the selling points – not having neighbors behind us.”
The letter of intent included with the proposal says the purpose of the project is to “meet local housing demands.”
When News10NBC asked the owner to talk this week, he said “no comment.”
If you Google the issue you find projects to build homes on golf courses across the country.
Joe Bruening: “This is what (the owner) bought – a golf course. He didn’t buy an empty lot of land to develop. He bought a golf course. And that’s the way it should stay.”
These designs were filed with the Walworth Planning Board. The board meets on September 8 but there is a town board meeting Thursday night and a whole lot of people are going to show up to that one.
Several golf websites report about 1,500 courses in the country closed in the last 15 to 20 years. 11 were here in our area but the rate of closures has started to slow down.
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