He now has the driver he’s been looking for, and I have money I can toss into the next big skins pot. Win-win.

If you have golf gear you want to sell, list it for FREE! in the Classified Ads section of Northeast Ohio Golf. Pick a club that’s taking up space in your garage, take a picture of it, post the details, list a price, and get it sold…

Even with the inflated $3.9 million dollar purchase price, Banbury still retains ownership of the 10 commercially-zoned acres around the clubhouse and its main buildings — a sweetheart deal by any definition. Banbury paid $2.5 million for the entire property in 2007.

So what, if anything, can still be done?

The total cost of the deal is $4.521 million (with the additional funds over the purchase amount used for watershed restoration), and must still be ‘approved’ by the Ohio EPA. But since the Ohio EPA is the agency who pushed for the project and are the funding source for it, that pending approval process appears to be a sham strictly for public show.

The only recourse now is to contact Governor John Kasich and the Ohio EPA to point out the inherent waste of taxpayer dollars in such a transaction, and to write letters to state and federal representatives and local newspapers to put pressure on the proceedings.

Long time Chardon pro Dwayne Randall, who is now head professional at Peek-n-Peak Resort in western NY, received an email from The Big Break with the bad news last week that he had not made the final cut for the next installment of the golf reality TV show.

“It was no dice on the Big Break,” Randall said to NEOHgolf.com. “I received an email explaining that I was considered, thank you for applying, invited me to try again in the future, and good luck, that sort of thing.”

Guess Northeast Ohio golfers have to get over the disappointment of not having a familiar face grace the show next season by watching the hotties the Golf Channel has lined up for this season starting May 14th…

See the results of that survey here, along with the number of votes earned by each course. The list was published in the golf tab included with the Sunday paper yesterday, May 6th.

Outside of the freakish number of appearances by Mallard Creek on the list (proprietor-incentivized voting, perhaps?), the results seem spot on.

But feel free to voice your own opinions on any of these topics in our NEOHgolf.com comments section below — or create your own category and with it a course nomination!

UPDATED AFTER ORIGINAL POSTING: Ohio EPA response now included… — Two weeks ago, Northeast Ohio Golf wrote about how the Mayor of the City of Aurora was working with the Trust for Public Land to obtain financing to buy then close Aurora Golf Club for the purpose of ‘water conservation’.

The Mayor’s press release on the project seemed to infer that the $4.5 million dollars for the purchase was coming from grant sources being secured by the Trust for Public Land.

But thanks to the sharp eye of Aurora resident George Heisler, it is now clear that the Ohio EPA is the real source for the $4.5 million dollar ‘grant’ in the same way that the failed Fowler’s Mill ‘restoration project’ was to be financed back in 2010, and that the money is merely being passed through to the Trust for Public Land to provide political cover for the Aurora Mayor, the City Council and perhaps even the Ohio EPA.

Even more outrageous, the Mayor’s ordinance as written tries to force through the buy-and-close legislation as an ‘emergency measure’ that only requires a single vote for immediate implementation if approved by six council members, thereby eliminating further public discussion on the process.

Mr. Heisler noted in the documents he provided to NEOHgolf.com that the ordinance pays a premium value of $20,000 per acre even though less than half of the entire property covered could ever be developed because of land shape. He also shows by map the existence of a high-pressure gas line that runs through the property, so any potential lots near that line would be devalued even further for development, perhaps even prevented from development by easement.

In essence, his conclusion is that the $4.5 million price tag being considered for the property is at least double the value any sensible developer would even consider, and perhaps even far more skewed than that.

Heisler also points out that the ordinance language itself should outrage Aurora residents, as he describes it as having a ‘railroading’ section — as in the legislation is being railroaded through without full public consideration. From the Aurora Ordinance 2012-060:

Section 7. This Ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety of this municipality. Wherefore, provided it receives an affirmative vote of six or more of the members elected to this Council, this Ordinance shall take effect and be in force immediately upon its passage by Council and approval of the Mayor; otherwise, it shall take effect and be in force after the earliest time provided by law.

The full content of the Ordinance can be found in Aurora Ordinance 2012-060.

The Aurora WRRSP Proposal that outlines the entire scope of the project claims that the money has already been set aside by the Ohio EPA because of the “significance of the resources to be acquired.”

UPDATE: Ohio EPA spokesman Mike Settles provided the following information after the article’s posting about the financing and the process:

The City of Aurora submitted a nomination form to be placed on the Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program (WRRSP) project priority list for possible funding. The city’s nomination form estimates costs for the proposed Aurora Branch Chagrin River Restoration at $4.75 million, including $3.9 million for land acquisition (portions of the Aurora Golf Club). The remainder of the money would go toward habitat restoration efforts and associated costs.

It’s our understanding that on Monday, May 14, the Aurora City Council may vote on a resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into a sponsorship agreement. This will be the third council meeting where the WRRSP has been discussed. There was also a public hearing on April 23 to discuss the development of the management plan and get public input on the project.

An April 25 Aurora Advocate article referenced the activities from the April 23 council meeting/

With regard to Ohio EPA’s involvement, we’re just starting to work with Aurora on this process. Before any funding decisions are made later this year, we will need the city to submit a management plan, sponsorship agreement, draft environmental covenant, formal appraisal of property and other documents. We also would anticipate holding a public comment period if we get to the point of conducting a limited environmental review or assessment.

Mike Settles
Ohio EPA Spokesman
614-644-2160
Mike.settles@epa.state.oh.us

So it appears that just as in the Fowler’s Mill boondoggle, a state-funded agency on a mission to spend set-aside money for watershed improvement — no matter how much benefit doing so will provide or how much it will cost — has paired with a local government point-person over an idea that shows little common sense.

And once again, the two sides are doing this for the stated purpose of improving the water quality of a river to which the golf course causes no harm, at an amount of money that will greatly enrich a private landholder using taxpayer funds, while closing a working golf course that is an asset to the residents of that city and to the golfers of the region.

So the question becomes: will enough Aurora residents (and Northeast Ohio residents, too) stand up at the city council meeting on May 14th, demand an accounting for this type of spending, and tell the Aurora City Council and the Ohio EPA to stop attacking the recreational amenities that are these golf courses?

- Eagle Creek GC in Norwalk hosts their 6-Man this Saturday, and there is still room for two more teams — so call the pro shop TODAY if you want in for Saturday;

- the Yankee Run 5-M is full for Sunday — sorry, way too late!;

- the ADGA kicks off their 2012 season with a 2-M Better Ball at Turkeyfoot the following Saturday, May 5th, with an entry deadline of Wednesday, May 2 at 10pm;

- likewise, the Cleveland Metroparks Golf Division gets rolling for the 2012 Spring Tour with a 4-M Scramble at Sleepy Hollow (signup deadline is this Sunday, April 29);

- and Pine Hills GC in Hinckley will run their big Spring 3-M Cash Scramble on Sunday, May 6 — should be a big, strong field for that one!

Get details on entering all of these events — and many more! — with the complete list in the Northeast Ohio Golf Tournament Calendar…

 
All prizes are for merchandise to Lake View Golf Course in Hartville, OH.
 

SKINS:
AA – $56 ea
Lindsey/Murray – Birdie #6; Eagle #7
Oates/Simpson – Birdie #12; Birdie #17
Crewse/Gainer – Eagle #14

A – $120 ea
Mullen/Rush – Birdie #18
Chapman/Bourquin – Birdie #5
Mellie/Luther – Birdie #17
Cunningham/Oakes – Birdie #16
Street/Zernechel – Birdie #13
McClary/Hudkins – Birdie #11

*

The sweeping, tree-lined view of the downhill then uphill 9th hole at Aurora Golf Club

According to a press release issued by the office of the Mayor of the City of Aurora, another Northeast Ohio golf course has been targeted for closing for the questionable purpose of ‘watershed conservation and restoration’.

While such a closing is still of debatable public value, at least the grant being discussed this time around to finance the purchase of the Aurora Golf Club property is coming from a private entity, the Trust for Public Land. This strategy is much more palatable vs. the fleecing that the taxpayers of the state of Ohio faced in the proposed boondoggle that was Fowlers Mill in 2010.

According to the Aurora Mayor’s press release, the Aurora City Council will consider accepting a grant from TPL for $3.9 million dollars to purchase then close the Aurora Golf Club course in an effort to ‘better the water quality of the Aurora branch of the Chagrin River’.

That purchase price does not include the six acres that make up the clubhouse and property close to Route 82, which is zoned for commercial use.

The press release states that this purchase and closing is important not only to help the watershed, but to create additional parkland for the town and perhaps even prevent the building of a housing development on the golf course land in the future.

The golf-course-hating Ohio EPA is backing this ‘conservation’ wholeheartedly once again, but at least it isn’t fronting the money for the purchase in this case.

Three questions come to mind immediately for this buy-and-close idea and the contents of the press release the Mayor’s office put forth: 1) The golf course greatly harms the region’s water quality how? 2) Semi-rural Aurora needs more parkland why? and 3) What crazy developer in Northeast Ohio can’t wait to burn through a pile of cash building a subdivision in the middle of nowhere in this economy of the foreseeable future?

Truly, these issues are straw men.

If private ‘naturalists’ want to give the City of Aurora money to overpay for land to close a working golf course for reasons that seem defy common logic, that is their prerogative.

But area golfers lose a worthwhile facility, another business is shuttered and its jobs are lost for questionable conservation, and the city of Aurora loses an amenity that many find worthwhile.

Perhaps the Aurora City Council should weigh the loss of a public golf facility a bit more than it has…