The nine-hole, Royal Oak, Mich., golf course is scheduled to permanently close this year, and residents are being called on to decide if a portion of the 50-acre property should be converted into a park and recreation center.
Royal Oak, Mich., voters will decide November 4 whether they want to allow the city to sell a fifth of the 50-acre Normandy Oaks Golf Club land and create a park and recreation center there, the Pontiac (Mich.) Oakland Press reported.
The course is scheduled to permanently close this year because of dwindling attendance. It is one of two nine-hole golf courses owned by the city, the other being Royal Oak Golf Club, the Press reported.
“It’s a better use of our resources for all residents to enjoy Normandy Oaks as a park,” Mayor Jim Ellison said.
Ellison said the total rounds of golf played at Normandy Oaks and Royal Oak Golf Club are now less that what the demand used to be at Royal Oak Golf Club alone. Normandy Oaks closed for play on Sunday, while Royal Oak Golf Club will remain open this season as long as weather permits, the Press reported.
Selling 10 acres of property around part of the perimeter of Normandy Oaks to housing developers would raise an estimated $4 million. That money would fund recreational features on the remaining 40 acres of green space. Conceptual plans include features such as two large soccer fields, a walking/biking trail, sledding hill, splash pad, picnic and nature areas, and ponds, the Press reported.
City property taxes from new housing on the land could be set aside to maintain the park, city officials said. If voters approve the ballot ordinance, about $200,000 from the land sale would pay for upgrades at Royal Oak Golf Club. The ballot proposal is necessary because a 2010 ordinance stipulated that Normandy Oaks and other recreational properties could not be sold without voter approval, the Press reported.
City Manager Don Johnson said sale of some of the Normandy Oaks property is necessary to convert the golf course into a destination park. “If any money is left over from the sale it would go only to other city parks,” Johnson said.
What will happen to the golf course property if voters reject the ordinance is uncertain, but Oakland County has expressed an interest in leasing the property for a nominal amount and creating a county park, the Press reported.
“The county would go through their process and design it to meet county needs rather than Royal Oak needs,” Johnson said.
Royal Oak could not afford to create a park on the property. As an older suburb, Royal Oak is pretty much built out, Ellison said, and wants to keep the Normandy Oaks property green space under city control if possible, the Press reported.
“We are really fortunate in this day and age to have that much land to use for recreational space,” Ellison said.
A Normandy Oaks task force earlier this year created conceptual plans for recreational amenities and conducted a town hall meeting with residents. Task force members first looked at a 2012 survey of residents which ranked their preferences for recreational facilities in Royal Oak. Among the top 10 choices were bicycle or non-motorized paths, nature trails, a splash park and picnic shelters, the Press reported.
Many residents in the survey—33 percent—said they wanted a municipal swimming pool. A pool has been considered, Johnson said, but is too expensive to build and maintain, the Press reported.
“If we did a swimming pool, we’d have to sell half the land to pay for it,” Johnson said. “It wouldn’t be a big destination park anymore.”
Ellison said Royal Oak looked at municipal pools in other communities and found that even with usage fees municipal pools are unable to pay for themselves and require expensive maintenance, the Press reported.
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