Businessman Ben duPont has announced plans to purchase his family’s namesake club in Wilmington, Del., putting to rest concerns about its redevelopment as housing. Planned updates to the facility include a new swimming pool, a 15,000-sq. ft. fitness facility, and a driving range that sits closer to the clubhouse, with work scheduled to begin this summer.…

With one commissioner saying that letting the property close without development would “turn [it] into Jurassic Park, with lizards and iguanas running all over the place,” the go-ahead was given for the first building of new single-family homes in Deerfield Beach in 25 years. Deer Creek Golf Club will now have the only course in the city of 75,000.

The Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit education and research institute that focuses on land use, said the decline of interest in golf and the increase in abandoned farmland are driving the trend toward communities that are built around a community farm. The proposed Ahwatukee Farms in Phoenix, Ariz., includes single-family homes, a 5-acre farm, a Montessori school, farmers’ market and a café.

The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted not to pursue a redevelopment of the property with Toll Brothers, and will now consider a plan that would involve selling the property for $3.5 million and developing it as part of a golf destination in conjunction with The Course at Yale in New Haven, Conn.

The town has paid a third party to operate the golf course since it was purchased in 2009, and is now considering development options for a portion of the property. One plan would include creating a Yale University-affiliated championship golf course and construction of a hotel on bordering property, and the other plan is to create 80 units of cluster housing for residents 55-and-over.

Although statements were made when the Michigan property was put on the market in September that it would not be broken up, the buyer said it would plan to build 80 lots on the golf course. Meetings are being held with the neighboring community association to discuss concerns and how green space could be preserved.

Expanded fitness facilities, more casual and outside dining opportunities and an expanded kitchen that provide more flexibility to operate multiple functions simultaneously are key features of the project at the Florida club, which also saw an expansion of the clubhouse from 15,000 to 24,000 sq. ft., and the addition of a covered second-floor terrace.

Eight country clubs in the Toll Golf family contributed their support.

Family Golf Links program seeks to grow participation among golf and social members.