Local News - February 2003

Community purchase plan advances

Westport Golf Course

By JACOB RUDOLPH, Staff Writer

February 5, 2003 - DENVER — A community effort to purchase the Westport Golf Course is officially underway.

However, community leaders agree, a tough road lays ahead.

Nearly 150 residents crowded into the Westport Country Club last Tuesday for a presentation by the Westport Community Association Golf Committee.

The committee unveiled its purchase proposal and five-year business plan for what it says will be a non-profit golf course, owned and operated by the community.

“The owner of the golf course will be the Westport community,” committee member Howard Bush said.

The committee is looking to raise $1.7 million for course improvements and a down payment on the property.

That money would also be used to cover a shortfall of cash expected in the first three years of operation. The course lost an estimated $100,000 last year, according to the committee.

The five-year business plan assumes a profit beginning in 2006. Any money made will be reinvested into the course.

The purpose of the meeting was to garner community interest and gauge financial support. The response was overwhelmingly positive, committee chair Andrew Strand said.

“I have to tell (current owner) Mr. Sheft something when I talk to him tomorrow,” Strand said. “After this meeting, I think we’ll have a lot to talk about.”

Although the exact levels of participation have not been determined, the committee is seeking pledges on two levels — equity supporter and community supporter.

An equity supporter would have voting power within the corporate structure formed to operate the course.

Before the meeting, the committee had received more than $300,000 in phone pledges.

More than that, however, is needed before the Westport community can go to the bargaining table.

“We’re really not in a position to do any negotiating until we have a position to negotiate from,” Bush said.

Current golf course manager Joe Etters, who has lived in Westport since 1965, made his financial pledge after the meeting.

He pledged his support, he said, because the golf course is an integral part of Westport.

“I want it to stay a golf course, for the good of the community,” Etters said.

The present property owner, Robert Sheft of Atlanta, is asking $3.1 million for the 168-acre property.

Members of the community fear developers will buy the property, close the course and fill the void with streets and houses.

If that happened, the community could possibly lose $10 million in appraised value, according to an initial appraisal conducted with the help of the golf committee.

The committee plans to make a counterproposal for less than Sheft’s asking price, though the exact dollar amount has not been disclosed.

Hopes are, Sheft’s regards for the Westport community and its residents will help keep the course in operation, Strand said.

“(Sheft) wants to be a hero to this community, and we want him to be a hero,” Strand said. “In the end, if we’ve done our jobs to protect our interests, and he’s done his job to protect his, everybody will come out a winner.”

Sheft did not return calls seeking comment.

Among other issues raised at the meeting were questions about corporate structure, levels of participation for equity members and group liability.

The committee, admittedly, did not have answers for every question. The answers, Strand said, lie within the combined expertise of Westport residents.

“We’ve got some of the best salesmen and marketers and corporate board members in the area right here in Westport,” Strand said. “You folks can sell this concept better than we (the committee) can.”

The campaign to save the golf course is a work in progress, committee members stressed, beginning with last week’s meeting.

The effort, as well as the its outcome, relies on the will of the community, Bush said.

“If we fail, then (the country club) will no longer be the community center of Westport,” he said. “Our green space will be gone, our security will be gone and it will give way to bulldozers, empty lots and years of construction.”

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

Terms and Conditions