A recent letter to the editor encouraged readers to “Give golf course owner’s plan a chance.” As a concerned “abutter” I felt that the points raised in this letter required some clarity. I will try to address some of the points raised in the letter.
1. “At this point the course looks terrific”: I have to ask if the writer has been on the course lately? I will concede that there have been improvements made in fixing some of the long-term neglect of the course (cutting back overgrowth) and adding irrigation. I applaud any work done to improve the golf course. However, my observations are that many projects get started and are left unfinished (the 14th hole has been under construction forever!). There seems to be massive tree-cutting while other parts of the course are littered with debris and incomplete earth-moving operations. Recent reviews online review offer a scathing rebuke:
a. https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/courses/12102-winnapaug-golf-course
b. https://www.golfnow.com/courses/1036272-winnapaug-golf-country-club-details
c. Even the Donald Ross Society did not include the course in their Rhode Island Tour: https://rosssociety.org/event-3804999, but are visiting another Westerly course?
2. “Limited development”: Limited? Some of the “limited development” that has been mentioned by the owner and/or his attorney: shortening holes by hundreds of yards and lowering par for golf villas; large-scale low-income housing; 150-room hotel between the 2nd and 17th fairways; marina and restaurant on the pond off of the 12th hole; and seasonal worker dormitories. None of these sound limited.
3. “Plans have been presented to planning and zoning”: There have been no formal plans submitted. There have been ideas and concepts occasionally thrown out by the owner or his aAttorney. We have yet to see a plan.
The owner needs to make the plans for the golf course public. Let’s end the secrecy and guessing. Let’s stop the behind-the-scenes attempts to change the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinances. If this “plan” is so great for the town, why do we not get to see it? What are they hiding? The people of Westerly deserve to see the plan. The Town Council needs to see the plan! It is time for transparency on the part of golf course ownership.
Jonathan Schmid
Westerly
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January 02, 2021 at 08:20AM
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Letter: Correcting the record on golf course 'plan' - The Westerly Sun
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