The owners of Westerly’s Winnapaug Country Club, a popular public golf course, are hoping to overturn a Superior Court ruling that would have blocked them from developing the 120-acre property into a 2,300-unit housing project, according to Westerly Town Manager Shawn Lacey.
Winn Properties has appealed the Superior Court ruling to the state Supreme Court, Lacey said.
Lacey also said the Town Council has asked him to approach the owners about selling the course to the town for development as a municipal golf course.
All this comes on the heels of a more than three-year period in which Nicholas and Jill Scola, owners of Winn Properties, initially hoped the town would approve developing the Donald Ross-designed golf course into a golf resort. That proposal was approved by the Planning Board but rejected by the Council after hearing objections from the golf course’s neighbors.
The Scola’s then submitted a proposal to the Planning Board to develop the property into a massive housing project that would have changed the character of the community. According to the Census Bureau the average sized household in the United States is 2.5 individuals, which means the 2,300-unit project could potentially bring nearly 5,800 new residents to a community that now numbers, according to the 2023 Census, less than 19,000 people.
The Planning Board rejected the housing proposal, which was appealed to a Housing Court, which overturned the Planning Board’s decision. The Housing Court evolved from the state’s initiative to meet a much-needed increase in affordable housing. Winn Properties proposal for 90 three story buildings guaranteed 30 percent for low- and moderate-income housing.
The town then appealed the Housing Court decision to the Superior Court, and when the Superior Court overturned the Housing Court decision, the golf course owners appealed to the Supreme Court.
Hovering over the housing proposal is the realization that even if the courts approved the project, there are many more hurdles, environmental among them, that the owners would have to pass for the project to move forward. The town is currently in the early stages of an $85 million sewer plant upgrade, mandated by the Department of Environmental Management.
The fate of this 100-year-old plus golf course now wrests with the Supreme Court, a process that’s likely to take months, or even a year, Lacey said. That is unless the town and golf course owners come to some accommodation.
Some have speculated that the Scolas are hopeful the town will reconsider the initial resort proposal. Even that proposal suggested adding hundreds of housing units around the golf course.
The Scolas have some substantial partners in the resort concept, most notably Nicklaus Design, founded by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, and recognized among the world leaders in golf course design.
In its announcement of the partnership several months ago, Nicholas Design said it is “working to modernize the course and restore it to its original Ross design, collaborating with The Donald Ross Society to ensure the original characteristics remain intact…The collaborative work of the Winnapaug Golf Group, Nicholas Design and the Donald Ross Society brings together the wok of two of the premiere names in golf course design in the 20th and 21st centuries, Donald Ross and Nicholas Design. Upon completion of the restoration and modernization, golfers will be able to enjoy golf at its finest at the Winnapaug Golf Club.”
That plan, Scola had said at the time, was “to develop an all-inclusive facility that will provide a resort atmosphere to golfers and visitors and will enhance the existing layout.”
For Nicholas Design it would be their first Rhode Island project that would have included a new clubhouse, restaurant and banquet hall, a hotel and one- and two-bedroom suites scattered throughout the golf course.