The Beacon Hill Community Association in Loudoun County, Va. is working on a lease with an affiliate of Haymarket’s Resort Development Partners. With the lease in place, upgrades would follow — conversion of the 27-hole golf course to an 18-hole championship design, new construction of a clubhouse and, eventually, construction of a nine-hole family course. As of last July, more than 70% of Beacon Hill homeowners wanted golf to return, but representatives of the association board now say it could all collapse over a technicality.

A dispute among Loudoun County, Va. homeowners threatens to stall, or even cease, efforts to resurrect the Beacon Hill Golf Club as negotiations with the course’s proposed new operator enter their final stretch, the Washington Business Journal reported.

As the Washington Business Journal reported in September, the Beacon Hill Community Association (BHCA), the dead Leesburg course’s owner, is nearing a lease agreement with an affiliate of Haymarket’s Resort Development Partners. With the lease in place, upgrades would follow — conversion of the 27-hole course to an 18-hole championship design, new construction of a clubhouse and, eventually, construction of a nine-hole family course.

As of last July, more than 70% of Beacon Hill homeowners wanted golf to return, according to a notice from the association board, the Washington Business Journal reported.

But representatives of that board now say it could all collapse over a technicality.

In March 2014, Beacon Hill homeowners were asked to vote on the question of whether to acquire the course from its then owner, Senior Tour Players (STP) Fund I LLP, the Washington Business Journal reported. The specific question: “I hereby vote/consent as marked below on the proposed acquisition by BHCA of the seven land parcels owned by STP I, known as the Beacon Hill Golf Course, and proposed annexation of those parcels into BHCA.”

Roughly 70% of association members voted “yes,” and by the end of 2014, the community association took ownership of the course for $1, paid off a back tax bill and opened the links as community green space, the Washington Business Journal reported. The annexation, however, was not completed for a variety of reasons.

And that’s the cause of the current sticky wicket.

In a recent update to homeowners, the association board noted that had the annexation taken place, it “would result in all BHCA members having common rights to use the golf course parcels, and the land could not be developed for use by non-BHCA members,” the Washington Business Journal reported.

Meaning, no golf, the board says. But because members did technically vote for annexation in 2014, the board is now calling for a simple majority vote “to permanently end all further efforts to complete the annexation process, so that a long-term lease of the former STP land cannot ever be jeopardized by claims that the former STP land has been or should be annexed,” the Washington Business Journal reported. That ongoing vote is scheduled to close March 4.

“To bring these negotiations to a successful conclusion, it is necessary that there be no doubt concerning the Board’s authority to lease the former STP land,” per the board, in a FAQ obtained by the Washington Business Journal.

In an unsigned email delivered to homeowners, a group calling itself “Concerned Beacon Hill Neighbors” argues that a “no” vote on the new question will not permanently end the possibility of golf, citing the BHCA Declaration of Covenants, the Washington Business Journal reported. Rather, this group argues, a “yes” vote means “giving up your formal say as a homeowner in this and future matters involving the golf course.”

They are urging association members to vote “no.” The identities of the homeowners opposing the question were not immediately available.

The board FAQ noted its members “tried to come to a mutually agreeable solution with these homeowners, but were not successful in doing so,” the Washington Business Journal reported. The board also suggested the concerned neighbors have threatened legal action.

In a separate email to homeowners, Terry Allen, an association member, sought to shore up votes in favor of the question to end annexation, the Washington Business Journal reported. The message, he wrote, was developed by a “collaboration of multiple people.”

“A ‘no’ vote is a vote against golf. Nothing more, nothing less. It is a vote for gridlock in our association,” Allen wrote. “No one is giving up their say with a ‘yes’ vote. You’re simply empowering the board that we elected to act on our behalf. If you’re not happy about those actions, every one of us has the opportunity to present an alternate vision and run for the Board.”

The RDP affiliate, as of late June, was offering a limited number of founding and lifetime memberships to the new club, preliminarily priced at between $50,000 and $250,000, with the goal of building an investor pool, the Washington Business Journal reported. A source familiar with the discussions said more traditional club memberships would also be available to Beacon Hill residents and nonresidents at a target initiation fee of $25,000.