HAVERHILL | A city councilor wants Haverhill to consider buying Crystal Springs Golf Course and running it as a municipal golf course, and his colleagues support examining the idea.
The owners of the private course near the Atkinson, N.H. line informed the city earlier this month that they have an agreement to sell the 137-acre property to a developer who plans to renovate the 18-hole course and build as many as 50 homes there.
But before the property at 890 North Broadway can be sold, the city must decline its option to buy it for $3.75 million.
City Councilor Michael McGonagle said a municipal golf course could provide a much-needed revenue stream for the cash-starved city, and that buying the property would keep the land from being developed for homes.
"It's a potential moneymaker that would preserve open space and quality of life by avoiding congestion in that part of the city," McGonagle said, adding that the proposed new homes would likely draw many children into Haverhill's already overcrowded school system.
There are currently 23 municipal golf courses in Massachusetts, including one in Peabody recently built which is making money for that city, McGonagle said.
McGonagle would pay for the golf course by borrowing $3 million and using $750,000 the city expects to receive later this year from the sale of conservation land to Boxford.
"Boxford's giving us $750,000, let's put it back into open space," he said.
The council voted 9 to 0 to refer the matter to a study committee for a recommendation.
The city has 120 days to use its option to buy the property after it receives a signed purchase and sale agreement between the owner and buyer. The city has not yet received that document, but expects to receive it any day now, City Solicitor William Cox said.
Mayor James Fiorentini said he has also agreed to explore whether the city could acquire the property, possibly by obtaining a state grant that would pay half the purchase price. He said it is "highly unlikely" the city could afford kicking in any money toward the purchase price, however.
The property is owned by Crystal Springs Golf Inc. The prospective buyer is Michael Maroney of Maroney Construction Co. Inc.
The city has first option to buy the property because it is listed as Chapter 61B land, which provides the landowner an annual property tax reduction because the land is either agricultural or used for special purposes, such as a golf course.
"My first reaction to this was 'we have a lot of money problems,'" Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien said of buying the golf course. "But this could be the moneymaker the city needs, and we could keep this beautiful piece of Haverhill."
Councilor William Ryan said the council should quickly dismiss the idea of buying the property. He said the city's history of running businesses is not good | referring to the old Hale Hospital and Glynn Memorial Nursing Home, which went bankrupt and left the city owing millions.
"Golf courses are going up all over the area and fewer people are playing golf," Ryan said. "Let's not terrorize the taxpayers with the notion we're going to spend their money for a golf course."
Ryan said any extra money the city has, such as the Boxford money, should be used to lower large class sizes in Haverhill schools.
"Let's reject buying the golf course and let them move forward with selling it and renovating it," he said.
Council President Michael Hart said he thought the idea of buying the golf course was "far-fetched" at first, but that he is now willing to at least consider it.
"We need to think outside the box," he said of solving the city's long-term financial problems caused primarily by its $7-million-a-year-debt on the former city-owned Hale Hospital. "Maybe the city could buy (the golf course) and outsource the management. That way you wouldn't have city employees working there."
