Local Officials Back Golf Course Plan for 130-Acre Site

WALPOLE, MA-The town wants to see a golf course and training facility developed on a 130-acre site off Main Street and its board of selectmen has given its Brownfields Committee the green light to pursue the project.

“This is one of our top areas,” Robin Chapell, health agent for the town and co-chair of the Brownfields Committee tells GlobeSt.com, referring to the parcel. Chapell says that the committee put together a financial and marketing study to demonstrate that a golf course on the site makes sense. “A recreational use for this property would be good because one of the past uses of this land was as a landfill and the remedy would be to cap it rather than put development on it,” she points out. Chapell notes that the study indicates that there is a market for a new golf course in the area.

About 40% of the property is owned by the town. The remainder is owned by five private owners, some of whom are supportive of the plan. “We got the go-ahead now to talk to the owners,” says Chapell, who adds that her group also needs to get grant money from the state or the federal government to do a site assessment, as well as start talking to potential developers. “It’s a long way off but we’re on the right path,” she says.