Bath City Council chambers were packed Wednesday when council members reviewed both a moratorium and a citizen’s petition regarding development on the Bath Golf Course and invited public comment. Luna Soley/The Times Record.
The Bath City Council on Wednesday unanimously rejected a moratorium targeted at a proposed housing development at the golf course, but it did advance a citizens’ petition that would bar “cluster housing” and “multi-family units” in the course’s zoning rules.
That petition will be up for a public hearing on Jan. 8, 2024. If the petition passes, it will essentially have the same effect, preventing Resurrection Golf, the company that owns and manages the course, from developing housing on the land.
Councilors balked at the moratorium, concerned about legal repercussions that could stem from inadequate evidence of “public harm” posed by the development.
The future of the course has been a source of contention since September, when managing member Sean McCarthy wrote in a letter to club members outlining his plan to reduce the 18-hole course to nine holes and build housing in an attempt to return the club to profitability. The 120-acre property, originally built in 1932 as a nine-hole course, expanded to 18 holes in the 1990s. McCarthy says it hasn’t been profitable since then.
The council rejected that proposal at a meeting in October.
Amid the debate, Peter Blachly, a member of the golf club, and Alicia Romac, a neighbor, gathered over 7,000 signatures on a petition to change the zoning and preserve the course. Romac also brought the moratorium on development to the council.
“Tom Perry was president of the Bath Country Club while he was chair of the Bath City Council,” Romac said during the public comment section of Wednesday’s meeting. “He helped craft the golf course district to protect the golf course from overdevelopment. While it did allow for the exclusive sale of housing lots on Lover’s Retreat Road, now known as Ridge Road, the intent was never to allow housing on the golf course itself.”
The Bath Golf Club, established in 1932, covers 120 acres. Its ownership has had high turnover since it expanded to an 18 hole course in the 1990s. Courtesy of The Bath Golf Club
Sam Hamilton, McCarthy’s legal counsel, said that eliminating all housing from the district’s zoning could send a signal that Bath is not open to new development. Affordable and workforce housing are among the concepts McCarthy was considering for the course, he added.
The club currently has 226 members, according to McCarthy – 21 fewer than it did this October. And it is losing money as well as members.
“I’m not blind to the need for housing in the city of Bath,” said resident Morgan Decker. “However, I think there are more appropriate areas for it. I certainly know as somebody which is on the lower end of the income spectrum that is not an ideal place for me to settle because I need to walk to shop. It’s inconvenient at best. So if a proposal were for affordable housing, that’s the worst place you could put somebody in the entire city, away from [downtown].”
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