Brantford's Arrowdale golf course is up for sale, and residents are fighting it
Course open since 1927 is listed for $15 million
A group in Brantford is fighting plans to put the city-owned Arrowdale golf course up for sale, and some members want a judicial review into how councillors made the decision.
Brantford's city council voted to put the course on the market in December and said that the money would go toward creating affordable housing.
Community members have contested the decision, questioned the process and called the affordable housing reasoning an attempt to "tug on the heart strings of the people."
Friends of Arrowdale leads the effort to save the nine-hole course. The group had been going door-to-door with petitions and holding fundraising events, but moved its push online once the pandemic hit.
A letter from the "defenders of Arrowdale" was sent to the mayor and councillors on June 5 demanding that they reconsider.
"The decision-making process was misleading, rushed, procedurally unfair, ill informed, lacked transparency, presented a reasonable apprehension of bias, and disregarded Indigenous (Aboriginal) rights," it said.
A follow up letter also pointed out that in November, council agreed that staff would have to create a plan to address the report recommending that the city explore selling the course in the first quarter of 2020.
But two weeks later, the decision to sell the course was included in an affordable housing motion and passed.
Opponents claim that the motion was made with no expert from affordable housing — real estate agencies spoke on it — and no consultation with the Brantford heritage committee. They also stress the importance of the 49 acres of inner-city green space the course offers.
Veronica Martisius and Ronald Heaslip filed an urgent notice of application for judicial review. A triage judge will review their materials to decide if it qualifies.
When asked for comment, the city said it will "certainly be prepared to respond in the event that an application has been filed."
Dan Oakes, a canvasser with the group, remembers going to the golf course to toboggan in the winter as a kid — something people still do to this day. It's been with the city since 1927.
"When I heard the stories of how people have enjoyed it, that's what I like to hear," he said. "I've experienced it. Everybody wants their kids to experience it and their grand kids to experience it … and we're going to fight until the end."
He said the spot is popular for seniors — they can walk the course — and people have bought homes nearby to watch the sun set over the green. Selling, he said, would take "everything away from those people."
The way the decision was made, Oakes said, makes it seem like the land will go to affordable housing — but it won't. Affordable housing, he stressed, "is something that nobody denies that we need."
The city says selling the course, combined with government funding, non-profit partnerships, tax revenues, and creative financial planning, has "the potential to result in over 470 units of affordable, sustainable, mixed-income housing options for the residents of Brantford and Brant over the next 10 years."
Course 'membership' down, but increase in rounds played
Part of the reason that people are so upset with the decision, said chair Peter Sheere, is that the figure raised in council didn't tell the whole story.
Friends of Arrowdale points out that council focused on the declining memberships (down 19 from 2018) to justify its decision. But total rounds played at the course, the group said, had increased by 1,644 in 2018 to a total of 20,305.
They say nearly 13,000 of these were pay-per-play rounds, which were also up from last year.
The city confirmed that all of these numbers are correct.
Sheere said that the increase in rounds should account for more money than what the course lost through a drop in members.
Arrowdale's relationship with the city's 18-hole course is also a source of contention. Gold membership holders of Northridge can play two rounds of nine at Arrowdale for free when the larger course is busy. Northridge will also borrow resources like golf carts when it needs them. But the deal only goes the one way.
Prize packs at a Northridge tournament, Sheere said, included a coupon for a free round of nine at Arrowdale. He said thousands were given out and more than 400 cashed in last year. The coupons have no expiry date.
17 acres will not go on market
In an email, one of Ward 4's councillors, Cheryl Antoski, said she is still against the sale of the course and would have preferred to look at options other than marketing it.
"Our residents have been working very hard to reverse this decision," she said.
She also clarified that the direction from council was only to market the Arrowdale property — not to sell. Any offers to buy will be presented to council, she said, at which time a sale would be approved or not.
A listing on CBRE Group says 31.97 acres is up for sale for $15 million. Another 17 acres will be turned into a park.
A recent city campaign seeking input into the park's design was met with a stream of comments on Facebook that opposed the decision. They also criticized the outreach for public input, which commenters say wasn't sought when it came to the course.
Arrowdale's fate had been previously debated in 2016. It spurred the creation of a save Arrowdale group and ended with the city promising to invest in the course.