Is Aurora's Beacon Hall the next golf course to fall to developers?

The club's 260 members have received two offers, but the club's board of directors has decided to continue to run the club as a golf course for now

Yorkregion.com
September 20, 2018
Jeremy Grimaldi

First it was Glenway Golf Course, then Highland Gate Golf Club, following that Magna sold a portion of its iconic front lawn for development.

At points over the past few years Markham’s York Downs was sold for $412 million and Mandarin Golf and Country Club was sold for $22 million.

Applications for development have also been submitted for Vaughan's Copper Creek and Board of Trade.

But the development of prominent green space and golf courses is not just happening in York Region, one of Canada’s most famous golf courses is also in jeopardy of development following a protracted battle between the owners, Club Link and the Town of Oakville. A recent Freedom of Information by the Oakville Beaver found this battle has cost the municipality some $5.3 million., spent on consultants and lawyers.

Now members at Aurora’s Beacon Hall, consistently ranked in the top 10 golf courses in the nation, and this year the top 20 in the world, are considering offers after receiving two real estate proposals from developers.

The financial offers, the nature of which have not officially been made public, were discussed during the Annual General Meeting, in May.

A leaked letter sent out recently spells out what the members and the board of directors were considering.

“Your board of directors is in possession of two unsolicited expressions of interest to purchase a portion of the Beacon Hall property,” the letter reads. “Both of these expressions of interest are highly conditional. Do we initiate considering of a potential sale … Or do we decline to take any action … and continue to operate as a golf club? It was evident that there are strong opinions on both sides of the issue.”

Although just rumours at this point, the numbers have been confirmed by a number of golfers at between $800K and $1 million for each of the club’s 260 members.

Phil Hardy, the club’s membership director, though suggested those numbers are “highly speculative” and would likely be “a far cry” from what members might expect to get as a net once final offers were “looked into by a financial advisor”.

Nevertheless, he said members at the meeting, expressed “overwhelming support” to remain a golf club and insisted the offers received were not “bona fide offers”.

“(The offers) are not filed with solid intent, to me it’s a giant fishing exercise to see what the resolve of the club is,” Hardy added. “To me this kind of talk is distressing because it doesn’t support the fact that we have a proud membership who value the club for much more than playing golf.”

Two members who spoke on an offer of anonymity, describe differing views of what should be considered next.

One said he believes he’s speaking for “most members” when he says the club is not for sale, however he further noted that members want to be kept aware of any future offers.

“As with most things in life, there’s always a number,” he told yorkregion.com. “Life is life, so if a developer wants to get silly enough, then it will be considered.”

He added that, as a former member of York Downs, he’s been through a sale in the past and explained that a number of details need to be considered -- including the actual dollars members will get after tax as well as whether the ends justify the means.

“The divisiveness that can be created is very distasteful,” he said, noting that if he had to vote again, he's unsure if he would have been on side with the sale of York Downs given the repercussions on the membership. “In my opinion, money makes people behave poorly.”

Others, often younger members according to one golfer, are far less emotionally tied to the club and see a potential sale as a financial opportunity.

Beacon Hall is made up of more than 200 acres of land, zoned private open space, however just than half is designated environmentally protected, according to someone with intimate details of town zoning.

The east portion along Bayview is protected land with significant water courses and forests, but the west, along Yonge Street is non-environmental, with fewer trees and water.

If purchased by a developer an application could be made for residential zoning.

Most of the land surrounding Beacon Hall is zoned OP34, a classification meaning only two houses are allowed per acre, as opposed to higher density developments which can contain six houses per acre.

There are currently 80 residences on the golf course.

Coun. John Abel, who is running for Aurora mayor, said there is increased pressure to develop golf courses because they are inside urban boundaries and the province doesn’t allow towns to develop protected lands, including the Oak Ridges Moraine.

“We have an official plan and that plan will maintain integrity of Oak Ridges Moraine and what we want as a community," he said.

He added he would consider asking the course to give the town right of first refusal, in regard to an eventual sale.

Aurora mayor Geoff Dawe said he didn’t want to see the club sold, calling Beacon Hall one of the town’s ‘great attractions’.

“Do I want to see it sold? No,” he said. “I would rather not see it developed because it’s part of the green space. It’s one of those hidden gems.”

However, he added that philosophically he’s on the side of property rights, insisting that if someone buys a property, they should have the ability to do with it what they will as long as it’s legal and is done with ‘city building’ in mind.

Nearby resident Isobel Ralston, who lives next to Beacon Hall, said she opposes development of the golf course because of its natural significance.

"It's a major area for wildlife and very important to the watershed," she said. "It's very sensitive and many rivers start here, it's important to not just the people here but all over the GTA."

Another mayoral candidate Chris Ballard said the current council has done an "awful job" speaking to citizens about development and insisted the density needs to be conserved in the downtown, not on the fringes.

"One of the big problems I have had is that when we do an official plan and talk about density, golf course are considered green space," he said. "So when there's a development proposal we have to shoe horn houses in places they were never meant to be. (If it goes ahead) this is an unplanned residential development we didn't plan for schools, sewers or water. We have to work closely with the neighbours to keep them informed and listening.

In the letter sent out to members last week, the board insisted for the time being it would continue to operate Beacon Hall as a golf club unless its mandate is altered.

“The Board has unanimously decided that it will continue to operate Beacon Hall as a golf club and not take any action with a view to a potential sale, unless and until the club has received a clear and unequivocal mandate from the members to take the significant steps that would be legally required for the Club to pursue a sale,” it reads