Employees of the Naples, Fla., club confirmed the pending closure but couldn’t say whether it will reopen next season or be shuttered permanently. Owners of the club have not applied to rezone the course, but if they do, they will be subject to new rules that would require developers to hold stakeholder meetings.
Owners of the Riviera Golf Club in Naples, Fla., plan to shut down the golf course April 30, the Naples Daily News reported.
Club employees confirmed the pending closure but couldn’t say whether it will reopen next season or be shuttered permanently. Ken Grund, a part-owner of the club, did not return the Daily News’ phone calls seeking comment.
Homeowners around the public course have known it was on the chopping block for months. More than 100 residents attended a Collier County Commission meeting in March to urge commissioners to adopt new rules adding stricter measures for developers who try to convert golf courses into housing or other development. The new rules passed unanimously, the Daily News reported.
Owners of the club have not applied for rezoning of the course. If they do, they could be the first to test the new rules. Those rules would require developers to keep a 100-foot greenway around the perimeter and to hold stakeholder meetings with the neighborhood before applying for rezoning, the Daily News reported.
Grund wrote a letter to Collier County commissioners in November saying Riviera was for sale for $3.5 million.The course was purchased for $4.8 million in 2005 by LA Minnesota Riviera LLC, a corporation based in Lilydale, Minn., the Daily News reported.
“As you are aware, there is a great deal of development in this area, and to my knowledge, no new public golf courses. Probably be a nice fit for (Collier County),” Grund wrote.
Nearby residents are worried about what will become of the land, said Bob Norton, who has lived off the golf course for six years. “A lot of people are upset,” Norton said. “We can’t get any info. It’s a beautiful spot. It’d be a shame if we lose it.”
The Riviera homeowner’s association has floated the idea of trying to buy the course, to keep it operating and help protect the views of the neighborhood, the Daily News reported.
Norton said he isn’t sure whether that will be feasible. Norton said the county’s new rules, which would require owners to hold meetings with the neighborhood during season if they seek a zoning change, will help keep homeowners from getting “blindsided,” the Daily News reported.
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