FeedsFellows Creek has new lease
Township officials say they are mostly pleased with a new lease agreement with the operators of Fellows Creek Golf Course.
“It’s probably a little longer than a lot of us are comfortable with,” said Supervisor Tom Yack.
What does make them more comfortable is their familiarity with the current management. Dan Ross of Fellows Creek Management has also pledged to pay for significant improvements to the course.
The agreement, which the board members approved at their regular meeting June 27, lasts for 10 years, retroactive to Nov. 1, 2004, when the last lease expired.
The annual payment is $150,000 for the first five years of the lease and $200,000 for the second five years. Fellows Creek Management will pay for $910,000 in improvements in exchange for the lengthy agreement. The contract is different from previous ones in that it specified which improvements are necessary and when they should occur.
The township will also pay for substantial infrastructure improvements. The board voted to publish a notice of intent to issue $1.5 million in bonds for upgrades such as clubhouse repairs and parking lot replacement at the meeting.
All maintenance equipment will be provided by the management company, too.
Going with current management wasn’t the only road the township could have taken.
“We could have bid (to other operators),” he said. “I don’t think the bidding would have been as competitive as we’d have liked.”
They also could have taken over operations of the course. The township also owns and operates Pheasant Run Golf Club.
“The two have gone down separate paths,” said Yack. Fellows Creek had always been contracted and Pheasant Run had always been run by Canton Township.”
When it was envisioned, it was possible that Pheasant Run would one day be contracted out, too.
“I think we were going to get to the point where we were going to look at contracting, except that the golf industry has changed so much,” he said.
“The whole reason Pheasant Run was constructed was to encourage more expensive homes south of Ford Road,” he added. “I don’t think we could get a contractor to maintain it at the level we think it should be maintained.”