ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (WAVY) — Going for the green has two meanings these days.
The owners of The Pines at Elizabeth City golf course say they want to keep the endangered property, but to raise the necessary cash, they want to build homes on part of it. Neighbors who bought homes adjacent to the course want to block the project.
It’s become a wedge issue. Normally in golf, you get relief from a large man-made structure, but if this plan goes through, the current homeowners say they’ll suffer a penalty.
The owners of the Pines bought the property in 2021. They want to carve out about 11 acres to build 117 townhomes and nine single family homes. The footprint would eliminate the practice range and reconfigure two of the existing holes.
“The last thing we want is to stare at a bunch of townhomes,” said nearby resident Robert Deyo.
Deyo and his fiancée bought their two-story colonial last year on Country Club Drive with a one-acre lot backing up to the course. It has privacy and an unobstructed view, at least for now.
Short of arming themselves with 5-irons and torches, the neighbors have taken their case to City Hall. For the second time in four weeks, they crowded into council chambers on the second floor. Among them was Vinnie Savino who bought his home three years ago on Clubhouse Road.
“You have to take into consideration your neighbors,” Savino said. “It’s not always about the money.”
But this time, it is.
The owners’ first shot at running a golf course has landed in the rough. They say they’ve lost money every month.
And it’s about the money for the neighbors, too.
“To take a hit on our property value would would be huge at this point,” Deyo said.
Said Savino: “It will plummet [property values].”
Pasquotank County Commissioner and real estate broker Sam Davis is representing the partnership STAAR LLC in its dealings with city government, which includes local resident Bindu Patel and Nish Parekh of New Jersey.
Davis appeared at two recent meetings of the Planning Commission.
“I wish I could answer all the questions that have been put before you (the planning commissioners), but some of those are certainly irrational,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We want to keep the golf course open, and this is an avenue to do that,” Davis told WAVY following the Aug. 5 meeting.
Parekh spoke with WAVY in The Pines’ banquet room, but did not want to go on camera.
“It still is the intent to preserve it as a golf course,” he said. “Our goal is to try and see if we can build properties here and then get golfers.”
Parekh said currently, the Pines has fewer than 200 active members, and to make the course viable, he wants to eventually double that.
“Both [my fiancée and I] sold our homes, and decided that this was going to be our forever home,” Deyo said. “We have this beautiful view and a nice golf course to be able to play on. That’s been our dream. And it seems like that is now under fire.”
Savino’s Clubhouse Road could end up being the access for the new development and all of its traffic.
“Our grandkids were here over the weekend out playing in front of the house in the road,” Savino said. “They couldn’t have done that if there were 200 cars running through there every day.”
The property also has an overdue tax bill, about $36,000.
“When we get financing for [the project], we’ll also try and get a buffer for clearing off all the back due taxes that we have on it,” Parekh said.
The STAAR partners would handle the construction of the 126 housing units themselves.
“We’re doing the development there because that’s the only way it makes sense,” Parekh said, but added they have not done any previous development from the ground up.
To make it happen, STAAR needs to get 11 acres rezoned (The property is already zoned R-15 residential, but townhomes require special Planned Use Development zoning.).
Their approach shot at Tuesday’s planning meeting came up short, with the vote coming in at 6-1 not to recommend the project for approval.
Davis was dismissive of the result, even if it was not determinative.
“This is the Planning Commission, and it’s a voluntary board,” Davis said. “I think they just didn’t understand what their job was.”
STAAR gets a mulligan because City Council will make the final ruling when it meets Aug. 25.
“Nobody can build behind us,” Savino said. “There’s a golf course there. That’s what we thought.”
Parekh has a different viewpoint.
“You buy a house adjacent to a golf course, but technically, you didn’t buy the view rights, right? You bought the property. It’s up to the owner of the golf course to do what they need to do. I’m not trying to be a hard*** here.”
The neighbors fear not only the loss of their view and their quiet neighborhood, but also, they worry the owners will eventually develop the entire course.
Neither Davis nor Parekh would rule out that development would be limited to the current project of 126 housing units.
“Would it be better for me to sell the whole property developed completely with 400 homes out there? It would be worth a whole lot more to me if I sold 400 homes,” Davis said.
“Right now, it is definitely not the intent,” Parekh said. “Down the road, I can’t say that we can’t change our minds.”
Said Deyo: “We’ll fight the best fight. I won’t go down. I’ll go down swinging if we go down.”
