A proposal for a holistic wellness and recovery center on the grounds of a Harrison golf course likely won’t be getting off the first tee, but the course’s owner said the property will remain on the market.
Township zoning rules appear to be standing in the way of the proposed $2.5 million development at Brackenridge Heights Golf Course off Lane Avenue.
The 83-acre golf course is in a C-1 Conservation zoning district, which allows for uses including cemeteries, country clubs, public parks and playgrounds, agriculture, forestry and nurseries and greenhouses. To place the center there, the zoning would need to be changed in a process that would go through the planning commission and require a public hearing and township commissioners’ approval.
After the would-be developers, Patrick Bibza and Laura Narry, pitched their idea at a planning commission meeting Monday, township officials questioned their ability to pull off such a large development.
In addition to offering a range of holistic recovery and wellness services, including programs geared toward veterans, Bibza said, the development would include a bed and breakfast, a restaurant and an office building. He projected 600 people would work there and it could be built in 10 months.
After the meeting, the developers said they would look elsewhere.
“If it doesn’t look like something the community would want, then I’m not going to purchase the property,” Narry said, adding she secured a $1 million grant to put toward buying property and they hoped to acquire the golf course for $1.75 million.
Tomson Scrap Metal bought the course in 2011 for $970,000. Ted Tomson said Tuesday it is for sale for $2 million. In 2017, the asking price was $3 million.
“We’ll entertain offers,” he said.
The restaurant at the golf course has been closed since 2017, but the nine-hole golf course remains open and the restaurant can be booked for events and banquets, Tomson said.
“It can’t sustain itself as a golf course,” Tomson said. “The taxes are too much.”
