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Board opposes Golf Plan

Foundation wants to protect open space; vote is non-binding

Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005

There was no discussion needed, no debate. A motion, a second to the motion, no comment, the nine "ayes" have it: a unanimous vote from the Montgomery Village Foundation opposing all development on the Village golf course not related to golf.

"The golf course is open green space," foundation board president Keith Silliman said in an interview after last week's vote. "This [decision] reinforces the notion that the golf course ought to be a golf course, period."

IDI Group Cos., a Northern Virginia developer, signed a contract last summer to buy the Montgomery Village Golf Club and plans three, 10-story condo high-rises and several clusters of townhouses and mid-rise developments.

Opposition to the plans has mounted and some residents had speculated at a town hall meeting in October that the foundation could be influenced by the tens of thousands of dollars in assessment fees it would collect from the new residents.

"There's always the issue that there might some mysterious or sinister things going on, that the foundation has this interest to accrue more income," Silliman said. But with all the expenses that go into managing a community, "It's not money falling out of the sky; it has to go to pay the bills."

Silliman said that while that "may influence some board members and their considerations," the decision was in the end based on an abundance of input from Village residents.

The board's decision has no binding impact on development on the golf course; its only authority there would come in enforcing architectural standards on whatever development might come in the future. The County Council holds the ultimate say.

But while the foundation cannot block construction, its position will likely influence any county decisions to allow the project to move forward.

The board's decision was also a rejection of the recommendation of its transportation and development committee.

After a public meeting last month, the committee recommended that the board oppose development anywhere but the "upper parking lot" area of the golf course and that would take the Village beyond the roughly 675 "population credits" left under its county-imposed population cap.

Those recommendations, argued resident Lois Campbell before the board made its decision, "give tacit approval to a plan that falls within that range. [They are] at best unnecessary, and at worst very misleading."

Campbell, treasurer of the Patton Ridge Homes Corp., has with fellow residents - and the help of Sharon Levine and other foundation staff - have spearheaded the effort to find evidence that the golf course was intended to remain open space until the Village's zoning codes expire in 2014.

The success of that effort has hinged largely on the county's determination of how many residents can be added to the Village, which cuts the size of any development by more than half of what was previously imagined. Continue to learn more about golf, please visit Gazette.

Town hall meeting

The recently-formed Montgomery Village Golf Course Alliance is hosting its first town hall meeting on the proposal to turn parts of the Montgomery Village Golf Course into a luxury senior community. The presidents of 10 of the Village's two dozen homes corporation and condominium associations now support the alliance's opposition to any development on the golf course.

IDI Group Cos., the Northern Virginia developer that signed a contract this summer to purchase the property, is scheduled to attend, as well as representatives from the county Planning Board. The town hall meeting is 7 p.m. today at the North Creek Community Center, 20125 Arrowhead Road.

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