The city government has made a proposal to buy the 77-acre Annapolis Golf Club property in Annapolis Roads, Mayor Ellen O. Moyer said yesterday.
Annapolis would pay $4 million to acquire the land and maintain its use as a golf course, with some money paid up front and the rest spread out over 10 years, she said. The funds would come from Program Open Space money.
"The proposal is ready," Ms. Moyer said.
There is a potential problem, however. The mayor said that the county - which doles out Program Open Space money received from the state - is refusing to hand over dollars that would go toward the purchase.
County Executive John R. Leopold's predecessor, Janet S. Owens, said in her last budget message she would like to preserve all the Annapolis Roads land. Mr. Leopold, however, has not set aside any money for the purchase. Officials in his administration have doubted it needs any more protection than the convenants that are already on the property limiting development.
And that was the crux of a letter sent April 22 by Frank Marzucco, the director of county Recreation and Parks, to LeeAnn Plumer, his city counterpart.
The county's available open space money for fiscal 2009 will be only about $1 million for land acquisition, which is an 80 percent reduction from last year, Mr. Marzucco's letter says.
In addition, two of the three golf course parcels have a combined development potential of only one house, the letter says. Also, a 1987 declaration restricts the use of the largest parcel to a golf course or other recreational uses, horticultural nurseries and conservation uses.
"(T)he Annapolis Roads Golf Course is protected from development and, therefore, does not rank high enough to be acquired within the limits of available County POS funding," Mr. Marzucco said in the letter.
But Ms. Moyer said the city has a responsibility to guard open space and make sure the land's recreational use is maintained.
"Open space ought to be protected," she said. "I think most people are interested in preserving and keeping this property as open space and seeing that it is used."
This would be the second golf course owned by the city, which leases the more than 200-acre Dwight D. Eisenhower Golf Course to the county. The idea of buying the Annapolis Golf Club property gained support at the city's budget retreat in October, Ms. Moyer said.
"Everyone at that meeting said pursue it, pursue it, pursue it," she said.
Alderman Sam Shropshire, D-Ward 6, whose ward neighbors the property, said one of the most important reasons to buy the land would be to maintain all possible green space in the city.
"We're considering (buying) it, but I don't have any details," Mr. Shropshire said.
A nine-hole course surrounded by homes, the Annapolis Golf Club has had a tumultuous recent history.
In 2005, the course was planned to be developed into ballfields and athletic facilities for St. Mary's High School, with up to 40 homes placed on an adjacent parcel. Residents protested, however, and raised $2.75 million to buy that 33-acre parcel named Ogleton Woods.
St. Mary's backed out of the deal and Ribera Development LLC sued the Annapolis Roads Property Owners Association, claiming it violated a 1986 agreement that restricted land use on the course but allowed building on Ogleton Woods. In July 2006, however, a Circuit Court judge sided with the property owners.
Who owns the golf course is less important than making sure it stays a golf course, said Anastasia Hopkinson, the president of the ARPOA.
The association would carefully examine any proposal dealing with the "jewel in the crown" of the Annapolis Roads community, she said.
"The use of the golf course is what is important to us," Ms. Hopkinson said. "We want to protect the environment."
