Click on the memo to enlarge
It has been two years since we became aware of Roanoke City's purchase of the Countryside property. Some of you saw the late news on May 2nd, 2005 and some of us woke up to the announcement in the Roanoke Times. Click here for the entire article.
Any changes to the use of the Northwest Roanoke property, which borders Interstate 581 opposite Roanoke Regional Airport, "will be considered only after community input and public comment as required by the zoning process," the news release said.
The city approached Meadowbrook Golf about the land, which was not being marketed for sale, said Geary Leathers, vice president of operations. Countryside has been a financial success, but the company realized that with part of the 18-hole course on land owned by the airport it might not always be available for golf.
2 comments:
Amazing...let me see if I have this right.
In Dec of 2002, the City contacted its representative on the Airport Commission to make every effort to stop the lease for the golf course property from being renewed so that they would have a better chance to obtain the property.
Then sometime between then and 2005, Meadowbrook Golf, which was running a profitable venture, was convinced that it had little choice but to sell its land because of the very real threat that the lease would not be renewed. In other words, the City strong-armed the golf company into selling.
Doesn't that whole process smell a bit fishy?
Yes, it was fishy from the get-go. Ms. Shuck, Dir. of ROA, told us that the lease would not be renewed for anyone as it was a safety hazard. Problems include "tree toping" and general security - she said if they could they would fence it off but was concerned that animals may get trapped.
Citizen trust is non-existant now that we know how we were "spun" in this process. We are skeptical of everything. Why would the City expect us to trust anything they say to us?
Tomorrow I will post the letter to Ms. Shuck from Ms. Burcham as a result of the Memo.
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