Oviedo agrees to buy golf club for $5M

The city of Oviedo will purchase the struggling Twin Rivers Golf Course for $5 million as a way of preventing the land turning into a residential development, city council members agreed at a recent meeting. The sale of the 310-acre course will take place in January, and city officials have also agreed to pay the property owner an additional $465,000 to cover various expenses in the sale. To fund the purchase, the city will raise property owners’ stormwater fees an average of $3 a month. Mayor Dominic Persampiere said Oviedo will continue operating Twin Rivers as a golf course. Earlier this year, city leaders looked into swapping a 52-acre, city-owned property off Lockwood Boulevard with the golf course owner for the Twin Rivers land, which sits south of County Road 419 and west of the Econlockhatchee River. But city officials discovered last month that the city land had to be used for public recreation because it was bought in 2003 with state grant money. The Golf Group, which owns Twin Rivers, was looking to use that city property for new homes.