From the air, the former Santa Rita Golf Course still looks like you could get a round in, albeit on grass that has seen greener days.
On the ground, however, residents say it has been overrun with desert flora since the course southeast of Tucson closed in 2011.
Whether the property would ever be a golf course again had been uncertain until recently.
The Pima County Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans last Tuesday to develop two lots on what was once 40 acres of greens and fairways, though the Board of Supervisors still has to sign off on it.
David Mahmoodi, the new owner of the two lots, said he plans to build one home on each parcel, one for his dad and the other for himself.
โWhen someone buys 20 acres, they assume youโre going to build as much as you can,โ Mahmoodi said of his plans. โI think it was a relief to (area residents) that it was only one house.โ
โThat is about as low impact a development as (residents) could ask for,โ said Chris Poirier, of the countyโs Development Services department.
The former course southwest of Vail in Corona de Tucson put the issue of what to do with defunct golf courses on the countyโs radar, Poirier said. After it closed, residents contacted county officials, hoping to get help in handling the open space, something Poirier said the county wasnโt โin a position to take โฆ on.โ
One of the new development policies in the most recent county comprehensive plan is to โexplore options to address the re-use of entitled, unconstructed golf courses; retired/abandoned golf courses; and golf courses without an alternative use.โ Thatโs been done, in part, as a response to golfโs flagging fortunes in recent years.
โThis is not something that weโve dealt with,โ said David Petersen, a senior planner with the countyโs Development Services. โFor the longest time, golf was a thriving industry.โ
At least one other golf course, near Green Valley, is in a similar situation to the Santa Rita course, Petersen and Poirier said. Poirier, however, says he hopes golf can rebound with a growing economy.
Tom Starrs, the realtor whose job it was to try to sell the Santa Rita course and, when that failed, sell it off in chunks, had a simple explanation for why the sport has been struggling.
โItโs not going down well with millennials,โ Starrs said. โAll signs are pointing to golf as probably being a sport thatโs diminishing very much in popularity with upcoming generations.โ
Balancing act
Redeveloping golf courses comes with its own challenges. Whether they are golfers or not, many residents choose to live near courses because of the open spaces and unobstructed views. Those preferences donโt go away when the course shutters.
โI was never really an avid golfer,โ said Mike Perry, who lives near the former Santa Rita course. โI just liked being out in that type of environment, and I came out here to retire.โ
He liked it so much, he said, that he picked up one of the course lots with the goal of leaving it undeveloped, adding, โI didnโt want condominiums and townhouses in my backyard.โ
And those preferences carry a lot of weight with Development Services, the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Supervisors, who make the final call on any post-golf course proposals, Poirier said.
Thatโs why Mahmoodiโs proposal to build just two homes on nearly 40 acres was met with little opposition and even some support.
โThat individual has got the right intentions. He wants to build a house and wants to work with the neighbors, and that is something that has not happened in this community,โ Perry said of his likely soon-to-be neighbor. โThat is what this community needs: we need people doing small development to bring property prices back up, not letting the property go unmaintained and vacant and turning into a desert dust bowl.โ
