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Independence, MO —
At age 16, Daniel Wilson played his first round of golf at Rockwood Golf Club.
That was 32 years ago. Wilson continued playing at Rockwood for years – until recently. The historic western Independence golf course, once considered one of the premier golf clubs in greater Kansas City and where Harry Truman was a member, is closed, and neighboring residents like Wilson are searching for answers on what to do next.
Dozens of people packed the Korte Elementary School auditorium Thursday night to share the facts of the closing and to suggest ideas toward Rockwood’s future. The meeting’s moderator, Independence native and lawyer Patrick Cierpiot, had distributed fliers about the meeting in an effort to learn more.
According to the website www.thelandsource.net, the course at Hardy Avenue and Westport Road has a listing price of $900,000 “with exceptional potential for owner-occupied, denser, mixed-use housing.” Cierpiot said he had also read that the listing price has dropped to $575,000 in recent weeks. While the property is for sale, no current proposal for the use or the development of the golf course is under way.
High-density development isn’t an option for the first person who could hand over enough money for the property, said District 4 City Council Member Eileen Weir, whose represented area includes Rockwood.
“That is not going to be allowed to happen,” Weir said. “There is protection in place for that to not take place. ... We are committed in this city to making sure that won’t happen.”
Weir said she is working with city staff to maintain the 91-acre, 18-hole site and keep it within the City Code guidelines.
However, Weir said, the City Code only covers 150 feet, “so all 91 acres have not been maintained, as we all can see every day. ... But they are in compliance within the code, and I am making sure that that is being maintained.”
The club’s website, www.rockwoodgolfclub.com, says Rockwood has decided to close down for the season, but it was used in 2011. The club’s main phone number, 816-252-2000, is no longer in service. No one representing the owner appeared to be in attendance on Thursday. The owner is listed as Rockwood Golf Club LLC under the parent company, Kemper Sports Management.
“My concern is the same as yours. We don’t want a blighted property in our neighborhood – that’s for sure,” Weir said. “We’re all working toward something that’s going to be positive for this neighborhood and that is going to be a benefit to this neighborhood.”
At age 16, Daniel Wilson played his first round of golf at Rockwood Golf Club.
That was 32 years ago. Wilson continued playing at Rockwood for years – until recently. The historic western Independence golf course, once considered one of the premier golf clubs in greater Kansas City and where Harry Truman was a member, is closed, and neighboring residents like Wilson are searching for answers on what to do next.
Dozens of people packed the Korte Elementary School auditorium Thursday night to share the facts of the closing and to suggest ideas toward Rockwood’s future. The meeting’s moderator, Independence native and lawyer Patrick Cierpiot, had distributed fliers about the meeting in an effort to learn more.
According to the website www.thelandsource.net, the course at Hardy Avenue and Westport Road has a listing price of $900,000 “with exceptional potential for owner-occupied, denser, mixed-use housing.” Cierpiot said he had also read that the listing price has dropped to $575,000 in recent weeks. While the property is for sale, no current proposal for the use or the development of the golf course is under way.
High-density development isn’t an option for the first person who could hand over enough money for the property, said District 4 City Council Member Eileen Weir, whose represented area includes Rockwood.
“That is not going to be allowed to happen,” Weir said. “There is protection in place for that to not take place. ... We are committed in this city to making sure that won’t happen.”
Weir said she is working with city staff to maintain the 91-acre, 18-hole site and keep it within the City Code guidelines.
However, Weir said, the City Code only covers 150 feet, “so all 91 acres have not been maintained, as we all can see every day. ... But they are in compliance within the code, and I am making sure that that is being maintained.”
The club’s website, www.rockwoodgolfclub.com, says Rockwood has decided to close down for the season, but it was used in 2011. The club’s main phone number, 816-252-2000, is no longer in service. No one representing the owner appeared to be in attendance on Thursday. The owner is listed as Rockwood Golf Club LLC under the parent company, Kemper Sports Management.
“My concern is the same as yours. We don’t want a blighted property in our neighborhood – that’s for sure,” Weir said. “We’re all working toward something that’s going to be positive for this neighborhood and that is going to be a benefit to this neighborhood.”
That use, Weir reiterated, is currently unknown. Residents openly expressed their ideas, such as the city purchasing the property and making it a municipal golf course; turning the property into a recreational area for the youth; a private developer purchasing the course and bringing it back to its heyday with a clubhouse and restaurant; or simply leaving it maintained within the City Code but not used for a particular purpose.
Besides several residents, many elected officials also attended, including District 2 City Council Member Curt Dougherty; Paul LeVota, a former Independence state representative running unopposed for Victor Callahan’s Missouri Senate seat; state Rep. Ira Anders, D-Independence; and Henry Carner, a retired Independence fire captain who is running for a state representative seat.
While he doesn’t want to see the area redeveloped as high-density residential, the likelihood of the city buying the property is slim to none, Mayor Don Reimal said, adding that he was a caddy at Rockwood when it was still a private golf club.
“I would like to see it stay a golf course. I don’t see the city buying it, to be right truthful with you. It just needs to be a private enterprise that takes it over and runs it,” Reimal said. “Right now, we don’t have the funds.”
Reimal’s comments were met with “why?” from several residents. Some even questioned why the city couldn’t use funds that went toward the Bass Pro Shops-anchored The Falls at Crackerneck Creek debt service payments toward a project like saving Rockwood.
“We’re not going to put our bond rating in jeopardy,” Reimal said of The Falls development. “We’re going to pay the bill.”
A Community Improvement District similar to one that took place in Carl Junction, Mo., with the Briarbrook Golf Course is one option, Weir said. That would require a property tax increase since the surrounding area doesn’t have enough commercial development to raise funds through a dedicated sales tax.
The CID would allow neighbors to purchase the property themselves and maintain it, whether as a golf course, to sell it at a later date or just to maintain it as a green space. Weir cautioned that costs to just maintain the course are estimated at about $95,000 a year, with the existing buildings.
“I don’t know what it would take, in its condition now, to bring it back up to where its a really playable golf course,” she said. “I’m not saying that we should abandon that idea because, clearly, there is passion for that idea, and I would certainly support that if we could figure out how to make that happen.
“But I think we need to do a little bit more research about how much that would potentially cost. The purchase price may not be the big obstacle.”
