Golf Course Was Good Long-Term Buy For West Orange: Councilman – West Orange, NJ Patch

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Was West Orange’s purchase of the Rock Spring Country Club a good deal for the township? Councilman Jerry Guarino thinks so, and he believes in it enough to make it a central spoke in his re-election campaign.

For decades, Rock Spring operated as a private country club. But about four years ago, the Montclair Golf Club merged with it, planning to complement its 36-hole golf course located on the border of West Orange and Verona. However, the Montclair Golf Club ultimately decided to sell the property.

Essex County briefly considered purchasing the property before township officials stepped in, hoping to prevent it from being turned into a residential development.

Last year, the town inked an $11.28 million deal to purchase the 138-acre Rock Spring Club, which has a 6,600-yard, par-71 golf course. The West Orange Township Council approved a $12 million bond ordinance to pay the purchase price.

The club’s golf course has since been converted into a public, daily fee golf facility which opened in May 2019.

On Monday, West Orange Councilman Jerry Guarino posted a social media message touting the purchase of the club as one of the lynchpins of his re-election campaign.

Guarino writes on his campaign website:

“As council president, I worked with [Mayor Robert Parisi] to acquire Rock Spring Country Club. It allowed us to preserve 138 acres of greenspace and to develop a stream of revenue for the township. This was always a long-term plan to develop sustaining revenue for the township, not a short-term fix. Several studies have been done regarding the profitability of publicly owned golf courses, including several in the Chicago area and there is of course, Bethpage Black, which has hosted PGA championships and is one of the public golf courses owned by New York State in Bethpage State Park.”

Guarino continues:

“The prospect of a developer digging up the entire golf course and building housing would have required new roadways to be built by the township, would have increased enrollment in schools, perhaps requiring construction of new schools – again on the taxpayer tab, not to mention environmental concerns regarding pesticides used on golf courses many years ago. Acquisition by the county would have removed a ratable and a stream of revenue to the township – both of which we sorely need. For those who reside in Upper Gregory, destruction of the entire golf course, particularly near Cable Lake would have resulted in severe runoff and possibly mudslides throughout the neighborhood. I walked door-to-door in the Upper Gregory neighborhood to explain rationale for the purchase, its projected short-term and long-term impacts on revenue, taxes and the environment. To date, once the course was re-opened after its COVID-19 shut down, we have seen an uptick in use.”

“When 2019 began, the idea that the township would purchase a golf course would have seemed farfetched… and it certainly was. But with the support of a majority of the township council, and overwhelming public support, the township purchased this beautiful 138 acres and, in April, re-opened the once private golf club, originally opened in 1925. Even with a later start to the season and the initial struggles of spring rains, in the first golf season as a municipally owned public course, the Rock Spring Golf Club at West Orange welcomed over 22,000 rounds of golf. More than three times the number of rounds in previous years and proved that the golfing community would embrace this new public course.”

The mayor continued:

“There are still many decisions to be made about the golf course and the future of the property but the success of this first year puts us on the right path. The second golfing season will begin shortly, and the second of the two-year commitment we made to the current operator. We will spend this coming year working to develop a long-term plan for the property and golf’s role in that and begin preparations for a Green Acres funding application to ensure whatever plan we decide on as a community, includes permanent preservation of a majority of the property. Any long-term plan will include food… creating public spaces has been the commitment since the conversations originally began and that includes public dining. In addition to determining the future for the course and the clubhouse, the township is currently reviewing options for leasing the operations of the dining facilities to a professional restaurant operator. Food… banquet facilities… golf… public recreation… small development… all important considerations for the property and we will spend 2020, as a community, in developing a plan for the future of this important property.”

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