SIDE STREETS: Golf club building plans rile residents

It's a classic property rights debate: the Gleneagle Golf Club wants to rezone its driving range to build 47 patio homes despite fierce opposition from neighbors who say the project would make a mockery out of the area's master plan and significantly damage their property values.

The issue will be argued Thursday before the El Paso County Commission.

On its face, it would seem a no-brainer for politicians who preach property rights: Give the owner -- Miles Scully, a San Diego attorney who bought the course for $825,000 in 2003 -- his rezoning and let him build.

But consider this: The neighbors have 600 signatures on a petition urging the commission to reject the rezoning and patio-home project. That's a lot of possible angry voters vs. an out-of-state owner whose investment is the equivalent of just two homes in the neighborhood.

"Everybody tells me we don't have a snowball's chance," said Doug Jenkins, leader of the opposition. "But we're going to try,"
He argues that neighbors paid a premium to live along a golf course and trusted the master plan and county zoning to protect their investments.

Why, he asks, should Scully's $825,000 investment outweigh the millions spent by the 20 families who overlook the driving range or the 200 or so whose homes abut the golf course?

"There's got to be a way a community can defend itself," Jenkins said. "They've got to listen to us."

Scully's spokesman, golf course marketing director Dean Jones, says the debate is being over-simplified.

"(Scully) is trying to increase the value of the course so he can borrow against it and invest money back in the course," Jones said. "He is investing in the future of the course."

Jones said his boss considered trying to redevelop all or part of the 103-acre golf course, but opted to build homes only on 10.5 acres, including the driving range, because he wants to keep the course open. He also offered to put the remainder of the course in a conservation easement, stripping its future development rights.

But he said Scully is losing thousands every year on the course and its future is bleak if the rezoning fails and the project dies.

Already, the course has eliminated its tennis courts because it cost too much to resurface. Now the driving range appears doomed.

At a Planning Commission hearing May 19, Scully said his golf course has suffered six-digit losses each year he's owned it due to a drop in the number of golfers and competition from new courses in the area.

Jones said project approval would allow Scully to borrow $1.5 million against the course because its value would jump.

And Scully warned the commission last month the golf course would close next winter unless the patio home project was approved.

Jenkins said neighbors are willing to take that chance.

This could get interesting.
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