While the club’s banquet facilities will stay open, residents are concerned that Beverly Hills-based developer Michael Schlesinger will replace the golf course with housing. Courses at other California clubs in La Verne, Chino Hills and Escondido, which all operate under different limited-liability corporations but are either owned or partially owned by Schlesinger and run by Bobby Heath, CEO of Western Golf Properties, have met the same fate.
It started with a real estate listing last summer, billing Sierra La Verne (Calif.) Country Club as potential residential property, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported. Then a couple of weeks ago, the owners of the course began installing a bright orange mesh fence around its property without proper permits, according to the city.
Now comes the news residents in north La Verne were dreading, the Daily Bulletin reported: The Sierra La Verne Country Club is closing July 21. The banquet facilities, operated by Wedgewood Weddings, will remain open.
“After many years of financial difficulties, club ownership has determined golf course operations are no longer viable at Sierra La Verne,” according to an unsigned June 25 letter course operators sent to its members.
Sierra La Verne’s neighbors fret they will endure a drama that’s played out in two other Southern California cities, with the owners shutting down golf courses, aiming to replace them with housing tracts, the Daily Bulletin reported. The golf courses in La Verne, Chino Hills and Escondido all operate under different limited liability corporations but are either owned or partially owned by Beverly Hills-based developer Michael Schlesinger and run by Bobby Heath, CEO of Western Golf Properties.
Heath did not return calls seeking comment. Schlesinger did not return a call or respond to e-mail requests, the Daily Bulletin reported.
“[Schlesinger] is buying up golf courses that are in distress. Then he goes to cities to [allow him to build] homes, and when they say no, he closes the golf course,” said Mike Konrad, president of the homeowners association for Vellano, a gated community in Chino Hills.
In late 2012, Escondido Golf Course foreclosed and was purchased by Stuck in the Rough LLC., which names Schlesinger as its manager, the Daily Bulletin reported. The course shuttered in 2013, and that same year, the owner proposed housing on the 109-acre site.
During the course of a multiyear legal battle with the city over whether housing is allowed, Schlesinger dumped five tons of raw chicken manure on the defunct course and ultimately had to pay a $100,000 settlement to San Diego County’s air quality district, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Stuck in the Rough in 2016 selected New Urban West Inc. to move forward with developing the property, which is zoned for single-family homes, Mike Strong, assistant planning director for Escondido, told the Daily Bulletin. Those plans are still going through the review process.
Meanwhile, about a year ago, the ownership at Vellano Golf Course in Chino Hills attempted to convince the local homeowners association that building homes on the fairway was the best option because the golf course was a losing venture, the Daily Bulletin reported. In meeting with homeowners, Konrad said Schlesinger identified himself as part of the ownership for the course.
Surrounding the now-closed golf course, there are 205 homes in the Chino Hills community which range from 5,000 to 12,000 sq. ft., Konrad said.
In a meeting last year with Western Golf Properties’ Heath, the registered agent for the Chino Hills property, the homeowners made it clear they would not approve housing on the course, Konrad told the Daily Bulletin. In Chino Hills, voters must approve residential developments on properties where city codes don’t allow housing. The following day, the course shut down.
A chain-link fence was installed without a permit around $4 million and $5 million homes, all which, Konrad noted, already have their own fences. According to Chino Hills records, 8,900 linear feet of fencing was installed between June 11 and June 14, 2018, the Daily Bulletin reported. It wasn’t until September that a representative for the golf course attempted to obtain a permit from City Hall.
The Community Development director shot down the belated request, but it was appealed to the Planning Commission, which also rejected the application for a permit, the Daily Bulletin reported. The matter went before the Chino Hills City Council earlier this year, which also said no.
Konrad said the fence—which remains onsite—creates a barrier around an area where high weeds typically need to be cleared, the Daily Bulletin reported. The ownership is behind on weed abatement, he said.
Asked whether the owner is facing fines for the unpermitted fencing, a Chino Hills city spokeswoman sent a statement to the Daily Bulletin: “The city will continue to pursue removal of the chain-link fencing and proper maintenance of the golf course area.”
Furthermore, Konrad said Schlesinger’s team has taken out all the infrastructure so that it could never operate as a golf course again, the Daily Bulletin reported. The residents there have formed a grass-roots group prepared for battle, Victory for Vellano.
“There’s no good faith from the owners of the golf course,” Konrad said. “All conversations turned out to be bad faith. They don’t play by the rules, and they know how slow the cities are to react.”
For 42 years, Sue Hart and her husband Mike Hart, have enjoyed unparalleled vistas from their backyard, which abuts Sierra La Verne Golf Course, the Daily Bulletin reported. The Harts were the first ones to move into their Sherwood Drive neighborhood. Sue Hart said she specifically selected the home because she was assured golf balls from the course—simultaneously under construction as her home—wouldn’t land in her backyard.
The golf course opened in 1978 as a public, nine-hole course, the Daily Bulletin reported. It was converted into a private country club when it expanded to 18 holes.
Curt McPherson bought his home in 2006 near the ninth and 10th holes, the Daily Bulletin reported.
“We weren’t looking for a house, but we saw this and just fell in love it. It was the location, the view, the layout of the house. It just feels like home to us,” he said. “I have seen the ocean from my backyard.”
The longtime residents are just some of many who live around the La Verne golf course and are concerned the open space will be replaced with housing, the Daily Bulletin reported. The site cannot be sold for residential development because it’s currently designated “open space” under the city’s general plan, its blueprint for development, said Eric Scherer, La Verne’s community development director.
Speculation about the course’s future began last August, when residents became aware of a listing advertising it for sale as something it couldn’t be: residential property, the Daily Bulletin reported.
“I’ve just been nervous ever since,” McPherson said.
Delaware-based Sol Long Term Land Investment Trust, the current owner group, was formed in 2016, but it has never listed a registered agent or manager, the Daily Bulletin reported. Scherer said at some point, the city became aware Schlesinger had purchased the property.
With the news of the impending closure, Scherer said the clubhouse, which includes locker rooms and a pro shop, will also close, the Daily Bulletin reported. A potential buyer has already held meetings with residents earlier this year to obtain feedback about what they would like to see at the site. That news has some residents on edge.
LaRynda and Mark Peterson moved into their home three months ago, but before escrow closed, the couple went down to City Hall to inquire about the possibility of any development at Sierra La Verne, the Daily Bulletin reported. She was told there are only a few places citywide left to build, and the golf course was not one of them.
“We went from OK, here’s your dream property, your dream view, to in three months, ‘Sorry, that means nothing,’” she said.
While the open space designation prohibits any development on the property, the owners are not barred from initiating what would be a lengthy process to try to change the zoning, Scherer told the Daily Bulletin. It is not uncommon in a situation like this, however, for the potential buyer to handle the necessary process to convert a use before escrow closes, he said.
To date, no one has done it, Scherer told the Daily Bulletin.
On June 17, prior to the announcement of the closure, Sue Hart was startled to hear some activity in her backyard, the Daily Bulletin reported. When she stepped out, she saw construction workers installing orange mesh fencing, a move she knew would signal the end of the lush green views.
“There a pond 15 feet from our property, and that’s one of our main concerns. It’s a natural feed pond, and that could be a real health issue,” she said.
Some residents want to know how the city will stop the course from falling into a state of disrepair, the Daily Bulletin reported. Robyn Walker, who has lived near the course for the past two years, said she went down to City Hall to alert staff about the fence activity.
“I have a white picket fence that overlooks the golf course. On [June 17], that view was obstructed by a bright orange mesh fence. It’s harassment,” she told the City Council at its June 17 meeting. Anyone who had investigated Schlesinger’s other golf courses could have figured out this would happen, she added.
Two days after the fencing began to go up, the city issued a stop work order because it had not been approved, Scherer told the Daily Bulletin.
McPherson worries the next attack on the site will be to turn off the water come July 21, killing the lush green fairways and oak trees, the Daily Bulletin reported. With hundreds of homes surrounding most of the course, Scherer said city officials will have to rely on neighbors to be their eyes and ears whenever something improper occurs on the property.
“People have property rights whether you are single property or commercial,” he said. “We can’t go and fine him today because we think he’s going to do something in the future.”
The banquet facility will remain open because it is operated by Temecula-based Wedgewood Weddings, which is owned by John Zaruka, the Daily Bulletin reported. At one point, the company owned Sierra La Verne.
“We will maintain Wedgewood full speed ahead with no interruptions,” he said by phone June 28. “We’ve done this at other places with the same ownership, but we maintain a nice green corridor.”
Zaruka made it clear Friday he is not partners with the ownership, only a leasee, the Daily Bulletin reported. Zaruka said he originally purchased the golf course in collaboration with his banquet company Wedgewood in late 2015 because he was interested in the banquet facilities. He said he never had any intentions of operating the course.
The idea was to build homes on Los Angeles County-owned Marshal Canyon Golf Course, just outside the city limits, while giving Sierra La Verne to the county to continue running a municipal golf course, the Daily Bulletin reported. However, the land swap wasn’t well received.
“That fizzled out quickly,” Zaruka said.
He was left with a golf course he needed to sell, so he contacted Schlesinger, the Daily Bulletin reported. After he sold the course, Zaruka worked out a sublease to operate the course for only three years, or July 15, and then full control would transfer to Schlesinger. He also worked out a 20-year lease which allows Zaruka to operate the banquet facility.
“We made it clear that when we do our leases we have to have a view corridor,” he said. “I think the property owner understands that.”
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