Little Turtle residents wary of new condos

The Little Turtle Golf Club community on the Northeast Side was established almost five decades ago, and while it has grown since, it has remained a quiet, wooded enclave.

That’s changing.

Gahanna-based developer Stonehenge bought the 200acre golf course in 2015 and plans to build hundreds of condominiums and perhaps apartments on the property, much to the consternation of longtime homeowners already angered by earthmoving equipment scraping the grounds of the course.

“They just slid in back there,” said Maureen Mahoney, 63, of Lynx Court, who said the work started this past spring. She said she used to love sitting on her deck, enjoying the view. But no more.

“Nothing’s sacred,” she said.

Stonehenge, through its Firewater Limited corporation, bought the course for $2.1 million, according to Franklin County auditor’s records. And since then, it has renovated the golf course clubhouse and is reconfiguring three holes on the course.

It also plans to build threeand four-story condominium buildings, which some residents say are too tall and out of character for the neighborhood of one- and two-story homes.

The first phase will be as many as 150 to 160 condominiums with work starting this fall, said Adam Trautner, Stonehenge’s vice president, who said the company ultimately will spend “tens of millions” to improve the course and build as many as 450 condominiums and possibly apartment units.

The Little Turtle neighborhood is unique in Columbus, a “planned community district” created in 1969 and amended in 1976 and 1981, said Anthony Celebrezze III, a spokesman

for the city’s Department of Building and Zoning Services.

“The idea behind it is that they were trying to allow the original developers enough flexibility to develop 570 acres up there,” and it was less stringent than regular zoning, Celebrezze said.

“There’s not a whole lot of restrictions,” he said.

Still, residents are unhappy about the changes and say they haven’t been able to learn much from developers.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” said George Tombaugh, 75, who has lived on Lynx Drive since 1999. The golf course is behind his house. He’s worried that his property values will decrease because of the new housing.

Paul Sonderman, 64, another longtime resident who lives on Deerskin Drive, said the development is directly affecting him and his

neighbors. “We’re beyond upset,” he said, adding that he is trying to prepare his house for sale.

Trautner said the golf course was in “very bad shape” when his company bought it. He said the goal was to preserve the golf course while building housing on the grounds. The first phase of condominiums are to sell in the $200,000 and $300,000 range, he said.

Developers went to the city’s Board of Zoning Adjustment in April for a variance on yard setbacks that would allow eight 18-unit buildings, or 144 condominiums. But Trautner said they don’t have to go back for anything else.

“We will fully continue to comply within our zoning right,” he said.