Ottawa

City ready to lawyer up to prevent golf course development

The City of Ottawa has let the owners of a Kanata golf course know it's ready to go to court to prevent a housing development there.

Owner of Kanata Golf and Country Club has been warned, councillor says

The city has been fighting for two years to prevent Clublink from building more than 1,500 homes on the site of its Kanata Golf and Country Club. (Kate Porter/CBC)

The City of Ottawa has let the owners of a Kanata golf course know it's ready to go to court to prevent a housing development there.

Nearby residents were shocked when Clublink, owner of the Kanata Golf and Country Club, announced in December plans to redevelop the 50-year-old course that sits in the middle of the Beaverbrook and Kanata Lakes neighbourhoods.

In the city's view, an agreement signed in 1981 between the owner of the course and the former city of Kanata requires Clublink to try and find another owner willing to operate the course or give the course to the city.

Only if the city declined to operate the land as a golf course could Clublink redevelop it.

In an update posted online last week, Coun. Jenna Sudds said she is continuing the work to prevent this development.

The 18 holes that make up the 70-hectare Kanata Golf and Country Club snake in between homes in an established area of Kanata. (Google Maps)

Sudds said the city's lawyers haven't received any formal notice about redevelopment plans, but if those plans do come the city will go to court to enforce the original agreement.

CBC reached out to Clublink, but no one from the company was available for comment.