ThisWeek CW 09/11/2014
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/09/08/westchester-golf-course-long-awaited-clubhouse-headed-for-construction.html
After years of using temporary tents to shelter golfers and other event guests, the owner of the Westchester Golf Course is taking steps to build a permanent clubhouse.
Development Director Lucas Haire said the Canal Winchester Planning and Zoning Commission gave conditional approval in April to golf course owner Charles Ruma’s site plans for a 3,500-square-foot clubhouse and a 2,000-square-foot shelter house. Engineering plans for utilities and site grading were approved in June, he said.
According to Haire, the planning and zoning commission’s conditions for building the clubhouse include construction of the shelter house, too. He said the city is still awaiting those permit applications.
Other conditions include repairs to the parking lot and concrete curbing at the golf course, a matching column design for both the clubhouse and shelter house structures, and relocating an existing flagpole.
Although site and engineering plans have been given a green light, Haire said the city is still reviewing building plans for the project.
“Building plans, which include the manner of construction of the building and all mechanicals, were submitted to the development department on Aug. 13,” he said in an email. “The value of construction listed on the permit application was $400,000.”
Documents provided by the city show a two-story clubhouse design with a cafe, community room, pro shop, offices, restrooms and a covered patio with outdoor seating, along with an open-floor-plan shelter house connected to the clubhouse by an outdoor walkway.
According to Haire, the city asked Ruma on Aug. 20 for “additional information or corrections that are required for the plans to comply with the Ohio Building Code.”
“We have not received those corrected plans from the applicant,” he said in an email last week. “Once we receive corrected plans that comply with the Ohio Building Code, we will issue a building permit that will allow construction to begin.”
This is the first year Westchester Golf Course has operated without using a large tent for some outings.
Canal Winchester City Council approved code changes last year limiting the use of a tent for special events in the city to a total of 18 days per year and limiting the size of the tent to 200 square feet.
At the time, Haire said the new regulations were being instituted as safety measures.
Ruma maintained the changes were aimed at shutting down the golf course. He said a large tent was used for outings that typically brought in about $150,000 a year and accounted for 20 percent of the golf course’s business.
The golf course was built 20 years ago as part of the Villages of Westchester development. Residents who bought homes there said they were told a permanent clubhouse would be built and showed city council brochures that included renderings of a clubhouse.
Ruma said during an October 2013 public hearing about the code changes that he had never erected a clubhouse “because I haven’t had any one year where we’ve had a profit.”
Haire said last week city officials are looking forward “to finally seeing a permanent golf course clubhouse that has been anticipated by many residents of the Villages of Westchester for nearly 20 years,” he added. “It will be great amenity for golfers and for community events and meetings.”
He said the contractor has indicated the hope is to start construction on the clubhouse by the end of September and be finished by April, in time for the next golf season.