Ballots have been mailed to the 481 members of the Tallahassee, Fla., club to approve owner Barton Tuck’s controversial plan to close nine holes on its north course so the land can be redeveloped, with revenue used to improve the remaining 18 holes and facilities. Members are being asked to waive their right to buy the entire club if any part of it is closed.
Ballots have been mailed to members of Killearn Country Club in Tallahassee, Fla., asking them to approve the owner’s plan to close part of the course—turning up the heat on a controversy that has enveloped the largest neighborhood of Florida’s state capital city, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
Killearn Country Club owner Barton Tuck is asking the 481 members of the club to approve his plan to close the North nine holes of the property’s 27-hole golf course on or before April 17, 2015, the Democrat reported. As specified on the ballot and its attachments, Tuck would turn most of the North course into conservation easement and sell the remainder for redevelopment, with the revenue used to improve the remaining 18 holes and facilities.
However, a 40-year covenant attached to the golf course in 1981 stipulates if Tuck closes any portion of the 27-hole course, he triggers a clause that allows club members to buy the entire golf course, the Democrat reported. The ballot asks members to waive their right to purchase the course from Tuck; if he fails to close the North section within 120 days, the right to purchase would return to the members.
The ballot initiative is the latest volley in a battle that has divided Killearn Estates, whose nearly 4,000 properties — most of them upscale single-family homes — make it Tallahassee’s largest subdivision, the Democrat reported.
Most incensed are homeowners along the North course, who worry their property values will plummet if their homes are no longer “golf course” properties, the Democrat reported. Under Tuck’s proposal, six holes on the North would be converted into a conservation easement, managed by an appointed environmental consultant. The other three holes would be part of or adjacent to the 35-acre parcel Tuck wants to sell. Most of that property is now occupied by the golf course’s hotel, clubhouse and restaurant — all of which are nearly 50 years old.
Tuck has said the 35 acres would likely be sold to a developer of apartments, townhomes or an assisted living facility, the Democrat reported. He said he would demolish the club’s hotel, clubhouse, restaurant and pro shop and replace them with a new clubhouse/restaurant/pro shop facility with proceeds from the sale. Eventually, he would also improve the other 18 holes. The pool and tennis courts would remain and be improved. The hotel would not be replaced.
On November 2, attorney Mark Lawson filed a “friendly complaint” on behalf of seven homeowners along the North course who object to Tuck’s plans, the Democrat reported. The suit asks a judge to rule on several questions, including: Whether the 1981 covenant is valid; whether club members can “vote away the property rights of [homeowners];” whether Tuck has already triggered a right to purchase; and which parties would be entitled to buy the course from Tuck.
“This is not a suit for money, it’s not a suit for damages, it’s a suit [because] we don’t know what’s going on,” Lawson told the Democrat. “It’s important to have this decided by an impartial party, a judge.”
Tallahassee attorney Danny Manausa, who represents Tuck, filed a “motion to dismiss” Lawson’s suit, calling it “decidedly not amicable” and saying Lawson’s clients, who include five non-club members, “lack standing” to contest Tuck’s plans, the Democrat reported.
Lawson said Manausa’s motion was “ineffectual” and “more of a press communication.”
Many Killearn residents have assailed the motives of Tuck, 76, a longtime golf course owner and operator who lives in South Carolina, the Democrat reported. Tuck bought Killearn Country Club in 1987 from its original developer, Tallahassee native J.T. Williams. Tuck ran the course until 1995 and then leased it to a golf operations company, before resuming its operation this month.
Opponents accuse Tuck of not investing in the course the past 20 years, and say that he wants to sell off the North course to pocket the money, the Democrat reported. They say his “Plan B” is to wait until the covenant expires in 2021 and then to sell off the entire 266-acre, 27-hole complex for redevelopment.
One of the ballot provisions speaks to that concern, Manausa noted. It says that Tuck agrees to invest all money from sale of the 35 acres into the rest of the course and its facilities. Another ballot provision agrees to extend the covenant on the golf course through 2046.
“This will be a contract with the members; it will have legal standing,” Manausa said. “Mr. Tuck thinks Killearn is special. He wants to save it. He just wants to get rid of the albatross of the North nine.”
The original 18 holes of Killearn, now called the South and East courses, were opened in 1966. For 25 years, those 18 holes hosted PGA and LPGA professional golf tournaments, the Democrat reported.
The North course was added in the late 1970s/early 1980s and is the least popular of the three nines among members. Manausa said the North course costs $200,000 in maintenance each year, while accounting for less than five percent of play.
Killearn Country Club once had more than 1,500 members, the Democrat reported. It currently has 335 golf members and 146 non-golf members.
“[Tuck’s] opinion is Killearn cannot stay viable as a 27-hole course,” Manausa said. “He thinks its highest and best use is as an 18-hole course with [improved] amenities.”
The two sides disagree strongly on whether the “right to purchase” has already been triggered, the Democrat reported. The 1981 covenant states, “Upon reaching a decision to discontinue golf operations [on any part of the course] and before the cessation of play,” the right to purchase the course is extended to members.
Lawson maintains that clause was triggered as soon, as Tuck orally announced his plans to members at an October 8 meeting. (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2014/10/10/killearn-cc-owner-offers-plan-resuscitate-property/)
“Once you trigger it, it’s a jack-in-the-box,” Lawson said. “You can’t put it back.”
Manausa insists the clause is not triggered until Tuck gives members written notice—which he has not yet done.
“When a document is not crystal-clear, the law is well-settled that we must give the language a reasonable interpretation,” Manausa told the Democrat. “Allowing a verbal statement to serve as notice does not make sense.”
Further, Manuasa notes, the covenant says that after the right to purchase is triggered, members have 20 days to appoint a three-person panel and announce their intent to purchase. So if opponents believe the right to purchase was triggered on October 8, he noted to the Democrat, they’ve already missed their window.
“I would never say Tuck has taken that position,” Manausa added. “But that’s the position [opponents] have taken—and under their own interpretation, their right to purchase is void.”
Killearn CC members will vote on Tuck’s ballot at a December 18 meeting, the Democrat reported,and they can also deliver their ballots before then to General Manager Lori Wilkey. If members approve Tuck’s plan, Manausa said, he will then work with the Killearn Estates homeowners’ association and residents to develop a redevelopment plan. Any redevelopment of the course would have to be approved by city growth management officials — who traditionally “don’t want friction from the neighborhood,” Manausa noted.
“With 3,000 homeowners, there’s no way everybody can be happy,” Manausa said. “But Mr. Tuck will strive to get a majority of neighborhood support for what he’s going to do.”
Many of the golf club members are already on Tuck’s side, the Democrat reported, including some who live on the North course. Ken Howes, a retired Florida Highway Patrol administrator who lives on hole No. 5 on the North Course, sent out an e-mail this week to 55 to 60 club members urging them to support Tuck’s plan.
Howes believes a conservation easement will not diminish property values, and said the golf course’s aging facilities need upgrading, the Democrat reported.
“It would be nice to walk into a modern clubhouse where the carpet is not worn and the roof is not leaking,” Howes said. “I would give up my golf course frontage willingly and happily to get a new golf course [facility]. I believe it will attract more members and more people to [Killearn Estates].”
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