Neighbors, club members fear Plantation Country Club could be overrun by houses, stores
The rumors began spreading nearly as soon as members of the oldest golf course in southern Idaho were told in August that the 18-hole course in Garden City was being sold.
Members heard the Plantation Country Club, which opened July 18, 1917, was in imminent danger of being closed. Or that the 118-acre course would get whittled down to nine holes, with 500 homes built where the fairways for the other nine holes are located. There’s also been talk that commercial businesses could get built on the side that faces State Street.
“It would bring a big-city population to a very small area,” said Pierce Roan, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general whose house is next to the one of the fairways. “The quality of life would go totally in the toilet.”
Country club members and neighbors were told that a Santa Barbara, California, developer, Will Gustafson, was behind the purchase of the course, at 6515 W. State St.
Gustafson, managing partner for Synergy Golf Partners, has not spoken publicly about the sale. A message left for him was returned by Bob Taunton, a Treasure Valley land-use consultant hired by the developer.
A confidentiality agreement with the current owner, American Golf Corp., prohibits Gustafson from speaking about the sale until the deal closes, Taunton said. The closing is expected before the end of the year.
In August, American Golf acknowledged that it was selling the course but declined to identify the buyer. Jayson Petersen, Plantation’s general manager, told the Idaho Statesman at the time that American Golf would continue to manage the club after the sale.
“The team will engage with club members, homeowners and neighbors to gather input as an important first step in assessing future opportunities for the property,” Petersen said.
Michael Thiry, a Boise chiropractor who lives along the Boise River and less than 100 yards from one of the course’s fairways, said he doesn’t put much stock in the rumors swirling around the neighborhood, where he has lived since the early 1980s.
“I don’t want to say something that some people will think is true but in reality may not be,” Thiry said.
Still, he’s concerned what impact there would be on the tight-knit neighborhood if the golf course is developed.
“It’s just an absolutely wonderful place to reside,” Thiry said. “Everybody knows everybody, and people help each other.”
Kate Taylor, who also lives in the Plantation neighborhood, said she’s upset by the lack of transparency over the purchase and future plans.
“The shroud of secrecy has created extreme speculation,” Taylor said. “We need facts: Is the developer truly planning on building homes and retail space on the existing golf course, or are they planning on improving the existing clubhouse and maintaining the golf course?”
Any development would require a zone change and public hearings. Current R-2 zoning allows only single-family homes or duplexes per acre.
“If anything to do with it comes up, we’re going to have a standing-room-only crowd,” said Garden City Mayor John Evans. He said he has received many calls from people upset by potential development.
The golf industry has declined for years. The number of golfers fell from 30.6 million in 2003 to 23.8 million in 2016, according to the National Golf Foundation.
More than 200 courses in the United States closed last year, Forbes reported, and closings have outpaced new course construction since 2006. The 456 million rounds of golf reported last year were 2.7 percent fewer than the year before.
Roan and other club members and neighbors have formed the Save Plantation Coalition to preserve the country club, the largest open space in Garden City. The group will hold a strategy and fundraising meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Plantation Club House, 6515 W. State St.
“The bottom line is that people love living here and we don’t want that to change,” Roan said.
Gustafson’s companies caused hard feelings in two other cities where they operated golf courses: Sparks, Nevada, and Chula Vista, California. Both courses closed amid financial troubles. In Sparks, the anger was compounded by Gustafson’s attempt to add a subdivision to the course.
D’Andrea Golf Course in Sparks, which is outside Reno, closed in 2012 after years of financial losses and amid accusations of mismanagement, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.
Gustafson raised the ire of neighbors when he proposed a 72-unit subdivision there. They said the problems with the golf course should have been addressed before contemplating new development.
The course, which Gustufson operated for eight years, closed after residents voted down an assessment of nearly $600,000 that would have kept the club afloat. Critics complained that Gustafson was using homeowners as “his personal piggy bank,” the paper reported.
In a statement Friday, Gustafson said the assessment would have cost homeowners a “minimal $29 per month” to support course maintenance. It came after his plan to sell the 72 home lots fell apart, he said, because of the “severe downturn” in the housing market.
“We had worked to partner with the homeowners to benefit them and the community asset, but they ultimately decided against that option,” Gustafson wrote. “It was never our intent to close the course, but market changes forced our hand.”
The course, now overgrown with weeds, is in escrow through another buyer, Sparks city spokeswoman Julie Duewel said. Gustafson said he’s working with the potential buyers to build a new community center and reopen nine of the course’s holes.
Last year, the city sued Gustafson’s company over cleaning up weeds and clubhouse debris. At one point, the city also erected a fence around the course to keep it secure but later removed it after the company refused to pay for it. The lawsuit has been placed on hold, Duewel said, because of the pending sale. The city will have to decide whether to pursue it further, she said.
In Chula Vista, outside San Diego, Synergy Golf Partners bought a foreclosed golf course, The Auld, in 2006. With a name change to Salt Creek Golf Course, it operated until 2011, when the 293-acre course filed for bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy trustee obtained a default judgment of $29,656 against Gustafson and Synergy Golf Partners, according to federal court records. The trustee alleged the golf course improperly made payments to Synergy after it became insolvent.
“During our ownership, we invested money in an attempt to turn around the operations,” Gustafson wrote, saying he was unable to renegotiate the lease with a water district that owned the property. “After operating the course for several years at a loss, we sold it to a new owner who eventually ceased operations and permanently closed the golf course.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2018 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Neighbors, club members fear Plantation Country Club could be overrun by houses, stores."