- April 22, 2024
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Palm Coast resident Robert McKenna doesn’t want single-family homes on his golf course, and he’s determined to make sure Grand Haven Realty President Jim Cullis, who has the property under contract, doesn’t build any.
“We bought into a golf course community, and people paid premiums for a golf course,” McKenna said.
“We’re up in arms.” A petition going through the community that calls for reviving the golf course already has several hundred signatures, he said, and community members plan to present it to the Palm Coast City Council soon.
Since the Matanzas Woods Golf Course closed in 2007, McKenna, said, local residents’ property values have taken a hit, and he hasn’t been impressed with the way the city has managed the problem.
“If you live in Palm Coast, you know if you let your grass grow, you’ll get a yellow sticker on your door,” he said. “There’s a double standard, because they’re letting the golf course go to hell.”
If the area is sold to Cullis and used for single-family homes, McKenna said, frustrated residents may sue.
Cullis said he has not submitted plans to the city, and has held meetings with local residents to hear their ideas and concerns.
Using the former course for golf again would mean a major undertaking to prepare it, he said, and the course might not be sucessful in this economy.
But the land’s use restrictions also limit the potential for development, so Cullis floated the idea of a community park — with a community center and water trails for kayaking and canoeing — at a meeting with community members several weeks ago. But the initiative is in an “investigative period,” he said, and nothing has been decided yet.
Cullis said if he can’t come to agreement with the community, he may not go through with the purchase, but he doesn’t think that would be a good solution for the neighbors, either.
“I don’t think leaving the golf course out there in that condition is good for the community,” he said.
Cullis is forming a volunteer panel of local residents to discuss the possibility of reviving the golf course. People interested in participating can contact him at [email protected].
