The Fayette County Commissioners recently approved a resolution authorizing a contract for the purchase of the Washington C.H. golf course property.
It was moved by commissioner Jack DeWeese and seconded by commissioner Tony Anderson to adopt a resolution at the Feb. 6 meeting. In collaboration with the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) of Washington Court House and Fayette County, and the City of Washington Court House, the commissioners determined that it was in the best interests, and conducive to the general welfare of the county and its citizens to purchase the property.
“It took a lot of work getting the entities together to work on this,” commissioner chairman Dan Dean said during an interview Friday. “They all wanted to purchase this property, but it just took a little bit of time. The resolution shows the commissioners are purchasing it to help speed up the process, but once it is finalized the CIC and the city’s portions will be reimbursed back to us. We had to act on it in order to keep the property from going to auction, so by doing it this way we are still working with the city and CIC, and the county will still only end up paying $150,000.”
The sum of $400,000 was authorized to go to Four Daughters LLC for the purchase of about 10 acres of the property. That portion, Dean said, is where the buildings are on the lot, including the main clubhouse and adjacent buildings that house carts and other equipment, as well as the part of the land that is the driveway. Additionally, the Bryant family, who currently own the property, also agreed to donate the remaining 69 acres of land either to the county or directly to the Fayette County Park District Board of Commissioners, as the county may so determine. In the resolution, the city will pay $150,000 and the CIC will pay for $100,000.
“The land will be donated to the county to begin with I imagine, just because the (Fayette County) park district isn’t set up all the way, but it will end up in the park district’s hands just as soon as they are able to take it,” Dean said. “This purchase makes us feel very good about it. This is a win for the community. By preserving that area it makes it so now the park district will have lands in their possession. That will qualify them to be able to apply for grants. It just gets it all started off on a good footing for the park district.”
Dean said that he appreciates the Bryants for at least giving them the opportunity to get the land back into the possession of the park district. He said that donation is huge because the 80 acres of land within the city is worth quite a lot.
Bob Pitakos, on behalf of the Fayette County Park District, said that they discussed options for the golf course with nothing concrete, but are still very busy working to get the entity established before they can make any decisions concerning the space.
