Creekside Golf Club is once again asking the neighborhood neighborhood to back its bottom line.
In exchange for an estimated $4.2 million, the club’s owners will pause their plans Real estate development into a residence for five years, according to a proposal sent to homeowners last week.
During the first year, 65% of the funds raised will go towards deferred maintenance and infrastructure improvements at the golf club, such as replacing pool liners, modernizing the irrigation system and upkeep of deferred swimming pools. The remaining 35% will support an increase in club staff salaries. Funding allocation can vary in the coming years.
The 588 members of the Homeowners Association will vote on the plan on June 29.
The club struggled for years
This plan is the latest in a series of controversial proposals to keep the struggling golf course open.
Creekside Golf Club and Creekside Estates were created by the same developer, but have no legal or financial connection.
But many club members live in the neighborhood, and those with views of the golf course have an interest in preventing development. Some residents said they bought their homes thinking the golf course would always be there.
The private club is owned by Creekside Golf Course, LLC. The owners of that company are Mountain West Investments owned by Larry Tokarsky and Terry Kelly, a former partner of the Pence/Kelly Construction Company.
In February 2016, the owners sent a letter to homeowners in the neighborhood saying the club had been losing money for years.
The club threatened to sell the golf course to a housing developer unless neighbors agreed to raise their association dues from $30 to $90 a month for limited club memberships, raising about $400,000 annually.
When that failed, club leaders asked the City of Salem to lower its price for water, which could save the company $140,000 annually. Creekside is Salem’s only tap water golf course. This proposal, which would have raised residential water prices by an average of $8 per year, also failed.
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Meanwhile, club leaders have asked club members to pay more than $1,000 each, and increase golf fees by $65 a month.
In April 2016, the Homeowners Association filed a lawsuit asking a judge to halt any closure or development of the golf course. They argued that the course was a major selling point for residential plots within the community, which lived up to a contractual promise to keep them operating.
In May, Tokarsky submitted a pre-development application with the City of Salem for a planned 156-acre, 354-unit development project. At the time, city officials said rainwater and wetland concerns might prevent some of that development.
In 2017, a judge ruled in favor of the club. The homeowners have appealed, and the case is still open.
A judge also ruled that the Creekside Homeowners Association must pay the club’s owners $42,789 for legal fees spent fighting the lawsuit.
Mountain West Investment Corp., a Tokarski subsidiary, did not respond to a request for an interview.
The Creekside Homeowners Association Board of Directors referred questions to Community Management Inc. , a Portland Homeowners Association management company. He declined to comment.
What will homeowners decide?
Latest offer comes from Al Khor Conservation Committeea two-month-old group that includes representatives from the Homeowners Association and Golf Club Board of Directors.
Homeowners will be asked to vote on two separate judgments.
The first provision creates a 5-year fixed assessment of $90 per month, or $1,080 per year, per household. The fee is in addition to the union dues of $47 a month already paid by homeowners, and does not come with club membership.
The fee will raise about $635,000 per year. After five years, fees can increase.
Two-thirds of the members present to vote must agree to the monthly fee to pass.
The second provision creates a transfer fee of 1% of the sale price of any home sold on Creekside Estates.
Since the transfer fee requires an adjustment in CC&R’s, it requires the approval of 75% of all households.
The club is expected to raise around $200,000 annually.
If club owners decide to close the course after five years, both articles will be cancelled.
The proposal also contains some additional provisions, which will be enacted if either provision is approved:
- During the 5-year period, the Creekside Homeowners Association will have the right of first refusal on any sale of the golf course.
- Golf course owners will defer payments on $21,767 owed by HOA as part of previous lawsuits over golf course development. Any money raised as part of the proposal in excess of $835,040 per year will go towards paying that amount.
- If the golf course is closed and developed, future homeowners will be required to join the Homeowners Association. However, the development will not have to adhere to HOA’s architectural guidelines.
- The Homeowners Association will not oppose the development of three plots of land for 14The tenth green, or condominium development to be built along Creekside Drive.
The 153-acre 18-hole golf course was built in 1993. It was designed by professional golfer Peter Jacobsen.
Tracey Love is a reporter for the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779, or on Twitter atTweet embed.