Sewer district hopes to reopen recently closed Holmes Harbor G.C.

Published 11:58 pm Monday, April 26, 2010

Holmes Harbor Golf Course closed indefinitely about six weeks ago, leaving golfers on south Whidbey Island wondering where they’d have to go to play.

Now there’s a good chance they’ll be back playing at Holmes Harbor in another few weeks.

According to Stan Walker, board president of the Holmes Harbor Sewer District, which has an easement on the property as a disposal area for recycled water, the golf course should reopen on May 17, “barring somebody showing up with a piece of paper that says we can’t do it,” he said.

If everything unfolds as planned, Walker said, the course would be operated as a non-profit entity, and would be managed by the board of directors of the newly-formed Holmes Harbor Recreation Association.

“We’re hopeful of improving the condition with a little more maintenance effort,” said Walker, who was on the course with a crew of volunteers doing maintenance work this week. “It’ll be the same golf course, but hopefully in a slightly better condition as time passes.”

Holmes Harbor is owned by Holmes Harbor Community Partners, LLC, which is part of The Schuster Group of Seattle, where Mark Schuster is the chairman and CEO. The course closed on March 14 because of apparent financial problems at the 18-hole layout.

However, due to an agreement with the sewer district, Holmes Harbor has to remain a golf course or some other open area. The sewer district has been in negotiations with Schuster about the possible purchase of the property, which is up for sale.

But in the meantime, it can still be a golf course.

“Everybody I’ve talked to wants to see the course reopen,” Walker said. “Certainly the owner does, the community does, and the golfers want it to be open, too. We think it’s going to work. … We think we have everything in place to make it happen on May 17.”

There still needs to be a signed operating agreement between the Schuster Group and the recreation association, “but that would be the only thing holding anything up,” Walker said. “And I don’t think that’s going to happen. Everybody is anxious to get this course open.”

Eventually, the sewer district would like to own the property “because we don’t want to face this situation again,” Walker said.

“We think (a future sale to the sewer district) is highly probable for several different reasons,” he said. “The sewer district wants to control its own future because every time a new owner takes it over, they could shut it down and we’d face this same situation. But if the sewer district owns it and has an operating agreement with the recreation association, then it’s virtually publicly owned and publicly operated.”

The property is currently being appraised, which could help set the price tag for a future sale, Walker said.

Schuster was unavailable for comment.

The Holmes Harbor Recreational Association will hold an informational meeting about the future of the golf course at 7 p.m. Thursday at the gym of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland.