Failing golf course giving way to homes

Another golf course in Broward County is a step closer to oblivion.

The Broward County Planning Council recommended Thursday allowing Crystal Lake Golf Club in Deerfield Beach to replace its greens and fairways with up to 415 single-family and townhouse units.

Attendance at Crystal Lake and many other courses has been declining, and local governments have felt increasing pressure by developers to allow new uses on the failing courses, especially in South Florida where there is little other vacant land left to build on.

Redevelopment plans have pushed forward in recent years, often in the face of neighborhood opposition that prefers the courses to more neighbors, in communities from Pembroke Pines to West Palm Beach.

Recent figures from the National Golf Foundation show that 211 golf courses nationwide permanently closed in 2016, while only 15 opened. Broward County has about 45 golf courses, down from 61 a decade earlier, according to county officials.

Deerfield Beach used to have five golf courses but will be down to one after Crystal Lake shuts down, Mayor Bill Ganz said. The plans for the 109-acre property to the west of Military Trail between Green and Sample roads goes to the County Commission for a vote Aug. 22.

The City Commission would also have to approve zoning changes and the site plan.

The proposed Hoyer Homes at Crystal Lake would keep at least 4.5 acres on the site for community recreation and open space. The developer has also committed to building an emergency medical services station on the land for the Deerfield Beach Fire Department, to improve response times in the area.

The preliminary proposal is to build 290 single-family homes and 125 townhouses, with a 100-foot-wide water buffer around the development that will also serve as drainage for the project.

Stefan Hoyer, the manager of the company, is also involved with the redevelopment of the former Raintree Golf & Country Club in Pembroke Pines.

In order to develop Crystal Lake, the developer will also have to clean up potential contaminants on the site, including arsenic that was often used in herbicides on golf courses to control weeds.

Recently elected Deerfield Beach Commissioner Bernie Parness spoke against the proposal, saying the site in his district was “just about the last piece of open space in Deerfield.”

Resident Jerry Lee said the proposal should be turned down so that the city could make the site a municipal golf course. The city never tried to buy the property, and Ganz said the city has no interest in getting involved with a money-losing operation.

Deerfield Beach received 50 acres of the former Tam O’Shanter Golf Course immediately north of Crystal Lake in 2011 as part of an agreement to allow development there, but it has yet to find the money to turn that donated land into a city park, Ganz said.