The owner of a shuttered Atlanta-area golf course once maintained by the legendary Palmer Maples Jr. is facing stiff resistance from nearby residents over his proposal to have the property rezoned so he can sell it to a residential home developer.
A 1973 Ward Northrup design, Summit Chase Country Club in Snellville, Georgia, closed in 2022 after years of declining business, said Don Britt, who has owned the property in suburban Gwinnett County since 1980.
Britt, who says he has exhausted his options to keep the course open, filed a request in spring 2024 to have the 95-acre property rezoned from recreational use to low-density residential so he can sell it to KJ Luxury Homes, an Alpharetta-based developer of high-end homes throughout the Atlanta area. A decision on the matter was delayed by the council in September and again in January. The council voted March 24 to again delay a decision, this time until its April 28 meeting.
Britt cited golf industry statistics about the historic declining popularity of the game from 2006 until the Covid pandemic that resulted in the closure of thousands of courses nationwide. About 3,000 courses across the country have closed in the past 20 years, according to industry statistics.
He also cited National Golf Foundation information saying "25 percent of the golf courses have to close so that the other 75 percent can survive."
"That's happened," he said.
"We did everything we could do to stay in business. We opened for public play. We opened the restaurant to the public. Every aspect of our interest was open to anyone with interest."
The proposal submitted by KJ Luxury Homes to redevelop the property includes building 125 single-family homes, each at least 2,400 square feet, on lots no smaller than 10,000 square feet.
An attorney representing the developer said there are plenty of other recreational opportunities nearby, including several parks.
"I would offer to council for justification for the requested future land use amendment and the rezoning, the fact that the property is designated as that park-residential designation," said Shane Lanham, an attorney representing the developer. "We would submit to council that classifying that subject property to that same low-density residential is appropriate, especially given the fact that it appears that elsewhere on the future land-use map those other park-recreation designations are city or county parks."
A packed house of concerned neighbors, most of whom appeared to be opposed to the plan, filled Snellville council chambers on March 24 to voice their opinions.
Among their concerns are overcrowding of roads and schools and added pressure on other public services.
Christina Kit Vinsick, who lives in a nearby neighborhood, spoke at the meeting, claiming to represent the concerns of residents of seven surrounding neighborhoods comprising 648 single-family homes. She said the residents of those 600-plus homes do not want to see another 125 residences go up around them. Homes in the proposed Summit Chase plan are larger than most of the others in the area.
Vinsick says more homes will burden schools and the town's aging sewer system and will result in more traffic.
"This neighborhood within a neighborhood," Vinsick said, "would turn our streets into thoroughfares."
Vinsick claims other potential buyers expressed interest in maintaining the property as green space. Britt says that is not true.
"We unsuccessfully tried to reopen the golf course," he said. "We met with county officials to convert it to a park. There was no interest. In the end, (selling) it was the only viable option to give us reasonable economic use for our property."
Maples was superintendent at Summit Chase from 1981 to 1997. Maples was president of the Carolinas GCSA from 1967 to 1969 and served as GCSAA president in 1975. His many awards include Georgia GCSA Superintendent of the Year in 1971, GCSAA Distinguished Service Award in 1999 and the 2000 USGA Green Section Award.
Summit Chase also has a history in the clubhouse, where Gene Siller was the pro before moving on to Pinetree Country Club in nearby Kennesaw. In February 2024, Bryan Rhoden was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of murder and kidnapping in the deaths of Siller, Henry Valdez and Paul Pierson in July 2021.