Bath officials will host a pair of public hearings this month on a citizen petition to prohibit a housing development at The Bath Golf Club, which its ownership said is necessary to return the club to profitability.

The club, built in 1932 as a nine-hole course, has not been profitable since it expanded to 18 holes in 1994, according to managing member Sean McCarthy. Club operator Resurrection Golf proposed cutting the course down to nine holes and building up to 70 townhouses on the 120-acre property, but the City Council in October blocked the project, citing opposition from club members and neighbors. The move forced the club to consider other options, such as building affordable housing.

Some members and neighbors last month asked the council to enact a development moratorium at the club, but the council blocked that, too, citing concerns about overstepping its authority. However, a group of members gathered 777 signatures for a petition to prohibit the type of dense housing development the club is trying to build. The signature total met the city’s required petition threshold of at least 10% of registered voters who cast a ballot in the last municipal election.

The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the petition at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8, at City Hall. The City Council will hold another public hearing at its 6 p.m. meeting Wednesday, Jan. 17.

The council will then either adopt the language in the petition or let voters decide it.

Club member and neighbor Alicia Romac, who organized the petition effort and founded a nonprofit seeking to purchase the club, emphasized the golf course has its own zoning district that city code says “will protect the golf course from incompatible neighboring land uses and protect the surrounding Low-density Residential District from encroachment by incompatible uses at the golf course.”

“The intent was never to allow housing on the golf course itself,” she told the council last month. “The current owners plan to reinterpret the present zoning of the golf course district with the intent of putting as many housing units as they can on it, irreparably harming the course at the expense of the greater Bath community. … Updating the land-use code to prohibit multifamily homes and cluster housing within the golf course district will clarify the original intent of the zoning and will preserve the land for future generations to enjoy.”

Sam Hamilton, McCarthy’s legal counsel, pointed to the city’s 2023 Comprehensive Plan, which identifies affordable housing as a priority and allows cluster subdivisions in the golf course district. He quoted state law that says a zoning ordinance “must be pursuant to and consistent with a comprehensive plan adopted by the municipal legislative body.”

“Cluster subdivisions are allowed in this district,” he told the council. “To have an ordinance that bans them is in direct contradiction to and inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan.”

McCarthy emphasized the club must attain profitability.

“Since the transition to 18 holes, the club has not been financially sustainable through multiple ownership groups and bankruptcies,” he told the council. “The current plan to go back to the original and successful nine-hole design would bolster the club with permitted-use housing.

“The benefit of housing during a well-publicized housing crisis is clear.”

He added, “To a reasonable degree, if you own property and wish to make changes to it, that is your right to do so by law.”

Councilor Jennifer DeChant was wary of the petition language and possible legal implications.

“I am not a fan of creating policy through citizen referendum,” she said. “I am a big advocate for public process.

“If this is where we’re at, this is where we’re at.”

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