(Photo by Jen Fifield/The Arizona Republic)
The 51-year-old, nine-hole course in the Phoenix suburb that has been closed since November 2018 because of safety concerns will be sold for $6.5 million to a developer, with an initial plan for 173 residences on its 42.8 acres and a surrounding linear city park. The approval of the sale, which will be final after rezoning, came despite the efforts of the Save Glen Lakes resident group to convince the city that the course was a needed public service and a rare patch of green space that should be preserved.
The mature trees and rolling greens of Glendale, Ariz.’s 51-year-old Glen Lakes Golf Course in the Phoenix suburb will soon be bulldozed to make way for a new neighborhood, if all goes as planned, The Arizona Republic of Phoenix reported.
The Glendale City Council voted 5-2 on December 10 to move forward with the sale of the golf course land to Towne Development Inc. for $6.5 million, The Republic reported. Councilmembers Jamie Aldama and Bart Turner voted against the sale.
The sale won’t be final until the purchase agreement is signed, which the city expects will be after the council rezones the land to allow for development, The Republic reported. The initial plan for the golf course’s development calls for 173 residences and a surrounding linear city park.
For many Glendale residents who live near the nine-hole course, the sale marks a disappointing end to a long, hard-fought battle, The Republic reported. The residents, who organized under the name Save Glen Lakes, believe the city should continue to operate the financially struggling course as a public service, and hoped to convince city officials to preserve the rare patch of green space in their neighborhood.
“I’m not happy, but I’m not surprised,” Jane Bachmann, one of the group’s leaders, said after the vote.
The terms of the sale would allow for a neighborhood that’s more crowded and less green than neighbors like Bachmann wanted or initially expected, The Republic reported. But the purchase price is also higher than city officials anticipated, with City Manager Kevin Phelps initially expecting the city to be able to get “at least $4 million” from the sale. The added windfall may allow the council to inch closer to its long-term savings goal, while the sale would also end the city’s annual subsidy of the course, freeing that money for other use.
Turner, one of the councilmembers voting against the sale, said the deal failed to deliver on promises made to residents who spent the last year sharing their preferences on housing and green space with the city, The Republic reported. He lambasted city staff for telling the council and residents one thing and moving forward with another, saying that the deal was “thrust upon us, behind our backs.”
While maintenance of Glen Lakes was costing Glendale hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, some residents argued the city could turn that around by marketing the course better and increasing activities and events there, The Republic reported. But there was another more pressing issue for the council to consider. After years of neglect, the course’s buildings had fallen into such disrepair that the city decided to temporarily close the course in November 2018 because of safety concerns. City staff estimated that it would cost the city millions just to get it back in working order.
Save Glen Lakes organized a petition hoping to stop the sale, but the City Council decided in December 2018 to close the course for good in March and pursue a sale.
When Phelps first attempted to sell the council on the idea of selling the land, he showed a rendering of a neighborhood with houses spaced similarly to the surrounding neighborhoods, The Republic reported. There was a lake and a park in the middle, and winding paths.
The city wanted to see a neighborhood there that matched the surrounding neighborhoods, Chris Anaradian, an assistant city manager for the city at the time, told residents in the summer, The Republic reported. That would mean about three or four houses per acre, he said, for a total of about 96 to 110 houses.
The city pictured an 8-acre linear park on three sides of the development with a path, workout stations and tot lots, Anaradian said at the time.
“I would expect all of you to hold us accountable for what we have said here as your city employees, as representatives of your property and your tax dollars,” he added.
But the vision he laid out then is much different than what came before the council for the vote on the sale on December 10, The Republic reported. Before it was amended by the council, the sales agreement allowed for “a minimum of 173 single family residential lots” on 42.8 acres.
If eight of those acres went to a city park, The Republic noted, that would leave 34.8 acres, for a minimum of about five houses per acre. However, there was nothing written in the sales agreement about providing eight acres for a city park, except for a reference to an exhibit that showed a rendering with a park.
Anaradian is no longer employed by the city, city spokesmen Jay Crandall and Mat Droge confirmed on December 10, while declining to immediately provide additional details, The Republic reported.
Turner, Councilwoman Lauren Tolmachoff and Vice Mayor Joyce Clark asked city staff to draft an amendment to make clear the city’s desire to have the developer turn eight acres of the site into a park and designate it to the city, The Republic reported. City staff also drafted an amendment changing the language to allow for a maximum of 173 residences, not a minimum of that amount, and the council approved both amendments as part of the sale agreement.
Many council members have said in the past that they want to use the money from the Glen Lakes sale to pay for more maintenance of city parks, another one of the council’s priorities, The Republic reported. But the money was not earmarked for that as part of the sale, and it will be up to the council to decide where it goes in future budgets.
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