Owners of the Gold Creek Country Club will sell the site's commercial tenancies in order to fund the construction of an indoor sports centre and tenpin bowling alley at the golf course.
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Some golf club members and Harcourt Hill residents are angry over the club's move to develop on what they see as open space.
The Konstantinou Group has submitted a development application to subdivide its land on Curran Drive in Nicholls, which will separate the golf course from the club, pro-shop and other facilities.
Group director Harry Konstantinou said while the businesses - including the swimming pool, childcare and indoor play centre - had subsidised the club for the past seven years, it was time to sell to enable other projects to go ahead.
Plans include the construction of the indoor sports centre, which was approved last year by the ACT Planning and Land Authority, a proposed tenpin bowling alley, an indoor-outdoor driving range and additional parking.
"Obviously we need to clear some debt," Mr Konstantinou said. "We're not asking for any more development rules, we're not asking to remove the golf course and make a huge residential estate.
''We've got over $10 million invested in the site, we're not going to go and build rubbish there."
He said the site was a golf course - not an oval - and people needed to understand that it was not open space. Mr Konstantinou said the projects would turn the area into more of a sporting precinct and the development areas would largely be limited to the practice holes. The application also separates the current permitted uses under the block's crown lease between the two blocks.
Mr Konstantinou said the current tenants would buy their premises and become owner-occupiers while the group would maintain ownership of the gym and the clubhouse. The clubhouse could be sold in future but there were no immediate plans for this, he said.
The Konstantinou Group purchased the golf course site for $3 million from the ACT government in 2005.
The director said since then the company had invested about $10 million in the site, which included subsidising each golf club member about $1000 each year to play on the course.
An unsigned open letter from the country club to its members dated December 21 invites feedback on the development application and reassures that it will remain "predominantly an 18-hole championship golf course".
"The owner cannot and will not
continue to subsidise the golf operations if the members do not appreciate the hard work, tears and considerable financial resources that are going into improving your membership experience at Gold Creek," it said. The letter said the course operated at a loss of more than $500,000 a year.
Residents of Harcourt Hill and members of the golf club are unhappy with the plans. A public meeting is planned for 6pm on Wednesday at Phillis Place, Nicholls, to discuss it.
A letter delivered to Nicholls residents outlines concerns over the plan, including the deterioration of the golf course and the reduction in size of the 21-hole course to fit future development.
"All residents within the Gold Creek Golf Club precinct are at risk of losing house value and losing the lifestyle and amenity of open green spaces," it says.
Harcourt Hill Residents Action Group chairman Gary Samuels said the group had requested a meeting with ACTPLA and that the authority extend the notification period on the development application.
"It appears it may have wider community implications," he said. "It has caused a bit of a kerfuffle."
Comments close on the development application on January 14.
