ROCKLAND, Maine — The Rockland Golf Club is reviewing a past proposal that would have created 20 homes on a parcel of land it owns on the edge of the 18-hole course.
John Spear, a member of the Rockland Golf Club board of directors, met last week with the city’s assistant code enforcement officer to review the plan submitted in 2007 but which never came to fruition.
Spear said he is gathering the information to provide to the club’s board in the event there is interest in considering a similar housing project now. He said there are no plans to develop the property, which involves about 14 acres that abut Philbrook Avenue and Acadia Drive on the eastern edge of the club’s property.
The golf club purchased the property in 1997 to prevent a developer from moving forward with a proposed 27-lot subdivision. Residents in the adjoining Pen Bay Acres subdivision also voiced concerns at that time about the impact development would have on its neighborhood in terms of added traffic and drainage.
In 2007, developer Bradley Vear submitted plans for turning the land into a 20-lot subdivision to be called the Fairways at Rockland. The golf club still owned the land but was considering selling it to Vear if the smaller project moved ahead.
But Vear also dropped the plans after a November 2007 meeting with the planning board and after concerns again were voiced about drainage from the property that is upstream of Pen Bay Acres. There also was uncertainty about sewage from the proposed development and where to connect to the city’s sewer system.
Spear said Wednesday the housing market also experienced a major decline during the Great Recession, which began at about the same time the 2007 proposal was being considered. The housing market since has rebounded, he said.
The golf course features 18 holes over 140 acres that have views of Rockland Harbor and of Chickawaukie Lake.