Enough...
Just eminent domain the place and give it to the people who deserve the community amenity. Sadly, with the death of RBG the supreme court may be more sympathetic to property rights over the rights of the community and of course the world through the environmental destruction.
Note to Mr. Miller- I think that your gca.com account has been hacked. Or if not, your C-19 cocktail was a bit heavy on the steroids.
The so-called rights of the community are reflected in the zoning on the property. A new tree ordinance would diminish the owners' property rights while on the surface increasing that of the immediate community. I've seen clear cutting of sites in advance of surrounding cities creating new laws without grandfathering existing private property owners' rights.
By all means, go the eminent domain route if saving the course in its present use or as open space is in the community's interest. I suspect that the current owner would be willing to accept a discounted value based on the end price of the site if it was developed as planned based on the current zoning.
I was involved in a similar transaction where I sold a large, upscale apartment property on behalf of a government entity to a private investment group which then improved its economics and made some $4 Million a couple of years later when it resold it to another government entity under the threat of eminent domain. In this case, the sales were not done to preserve a needed use or for environmentally-motivated open space. The 30 or so apartment buildings were razed after the second sale for the benefit of the second government entity which, to comply strictly with federal law, had to provide a safety buffer for changes it was making in its area of service.
All this information was known before the first sale took place- I advised against doing it- and the investor group knew that it would have to resell the property in a short period of time. It just made the bet that the resale price would compensate them for all the trouble.
Might the development group be making a similar bet? $10-$15 Million for the property and it goes away? Does the community have the resources to get the deal done?