Creekside neighbors battle over proposal to fund private golf course
Tensions are rising in a south Salem neighborhood as a vote approaches on whether residents should pay to help operate a nearby private golf course.
More than 200 residents of Creekside Estates attended a chaotic town hall meeting on the proposal Wednesday night. More than a dozen stormed out before the meeting ended.
The Creekside Homeowners Association board held the meeting to answer residents' questions about the proposal but ended up referring many questions to the Creekside Golf Club’s owners, who were not present.
If residents vote yes on the proposal, each of the neighborhood’s 588 property owners will pay $90 per month, or $1,080 per year, for five years to help support the golf club. The owners also are asking residents to approve a 1% transfer fee on home sales in the neighborhood.
Together, the moves are expected to raise an estimated $4.2 million over five years. The money would be split between raises for club employees and infrastructure improvements.
If the club becomes profitable, its owners will keep it operating during the five years agreement. If it doesn’t, or if homeowners don’t approve the proposal, the owners say they will close the course.
Golf club members, hoping to prevent a closure, are asking for voluntary donations, and say they've already raised $1 million.
Club is struggling financially
Creekside Golf Club and the Creekside Estates neighborhood were created by the same developer, but otherwise have no legal or financial connection.
But many club members live in the neighborhood, and those with golf course views have an interest in preventing development. Some residents said they bought their homes thinking the golf course would always be there.
The course has struggled financially for at least a decade, and in 2016 the golf club’s owners, Larry Tokarski and Terry Kelly, filed a pre-development plan with the city of Salem to turn the course into a 354-unit planned development.
That same year, the owners asked neighbors to raise their association dues by $60 per month in exchange for limited memberships in the club, raising about $400,000 per year.
When that failed, club leaders asked the city of Salem to reduce the rate it charges the club for water, shifting the cost to residential water customers. That proposal also failed.
Competing messages
This time, the club’s owners hired a Salem marketing firm, Public Affairs Counsel, to create a website and mail flyers to residents.
The website says the proposal was a consensus plan from a group of board and club members calling themselves the Creekside Preservation Committee.
But board member Audrey Konold stressed at the meeting that the owners rejected proposals from that committee and instead submitted their own demand. She said the board was merely presenting the owners' demand for consideration.
Separately, a group of homeowners and golf club members is backing the golf club owners' proposal. They sent residents a letter urging a “yes” vote and hinting that the golf club’s owners would not be asking for more money when the plan expires.
“If the owners’ proposal does not pass, the golf course and club will close,” their letter says. “If we can hold off the decision to close the club, there are very serious efforts underway that will preserve the golf club and our community beyond five years.”
Another group of golf club members are circulating their own plan, asking for voluntary donations to the club. A member of that group at the meeting said it already has raised $1 million.
Meanwhile, neighbors who oppose the club owner's proposal are going door-to-door with their own flyer.
“It is an extremely poor business decision, if not irresponsible, for our HOA to prop up a failing private enterprise, particularly when the HOA has no say over how the business is run,” the one-page flyer says.
“This is a David versus Goliath situation,” it reads. “Individual residents opposed to this tax are taking on a Goliath with deep pockets who hired a fancy PR firm to sell a bad plan.”
The flyer also questions why the vote is being taken less than a month after the proposal was first made public. Residents first were told they would need to show up at a June 29 meeting in person, or send a proxy, in order to vote. That later was changed to mail or electronic voting. Ballots now must be received by June 28.
“Many Creeksiders – away on vacation, working, etc. – may be distracted from learning about the plan,” the opponents’ flyer says. “If it were a reasonable plan, the owners would not be rushing it.”
Tracy Loew is a reporter at the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779 or on Twitter at @Tracy_Loew.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Creekside neighbors battle over proposal to fund private golf course
