For those who have been interested in the outcome of the court case...
Article published Jun 28, 2007
Judge slices course plans
By SARAH WEBER
sarah.weber@timesnews.com
When the city of Erie first received the Erie Golf Club property in 1926, the deed limited the use of the property to a golf course or public park.
And on Wednesday afternoon, Erie County Judge Stephanie Domitrovich ruled that's the way it is going to stay.
The city has been fighting to change a deed restriction since the case opened on March 26. It was the city's intent to sell the Millcreek Township property as a golf course or for residential development to get out from under the course's $2 million debt it had accumulated from renovation projects.
Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott said Wednesday afternoon he had just received the decision and would not have a comment until after he meets with City Solicitor Greg Karle.
Jim Casey, the chairman of the Keep Erie Golf Course Open Committee, said he is happy with the decision. Casey's group was one of three plaintiffs that challenged the city on its plans for the course.
"I am pleased with the finding of Judge Domitrovich, and now the ball is in the court of Mayor Sinnott," Casey said.
The committee and other plaintiffs -- the Lake Erie Region Conservancy and its president, Tom Fuhrman, and Jim Casella, ex-city assistant public-works director, have argued that course could be an asset to the city if it were properly managed.
"With the proper people running the course and the proper promotion, the Erie Golf Course will be there for another 100 years," Casey said.
Fuhrman said that the decision was great victory in the conservancy's mission to protect natural, cultural and historical resources.
"With the publicity that this case created, more people know about it than they ever did," Fuhrman said. "They have to make a decision about are they going to make some money out of it or are they going to let it go."
Now that the city's plans for the course have been overturned, city officials have to decide what to do with the property.
Rubye Jenkins-Husband, president of Erie City Council said, "We'll just have to try to find out how we're going to maintain the golf course. My biggest concern is how to pay the debt service."
The Erie Golf Club sold the property to the city in 1926 for $1 and the assumption of a $15,000 mortgage.