Angry Baltimore County residents are asking officials to reconsider closing Gunpowder Falls golf course, which they said has potential to be a moneymaker if managed properly.
Officials plan to shutter the 112-acre public course in Kingsville at the end of the year and convert it into a regional park. But frequent players — who say the executive-size, relatively easy course is ideal for seniors and beginners — are lobbying local lawmakers and demanding a public hearing on the issue.
“I actually feel intimated when I go to other courses because I feel like I’m holding up people,” said Sue McLaughlin, who said the county didn’t promote Gunpowder Falls as much as its other courses. “You can relax and slow your game.”
The course is operated by the county’s public-private Revenue Authority, which said the course hasn’t netted a profit in years, leveling off at 34,000 rounds per year. The agency needs to sell 40,000 to break even, officials said.
In January, the authority plans to transfer the property to county government in exchange for a $4 million tax break. The county recently acquired a 28-acre farm adjacent to the course and is in negotiations to buy a 66-acre parcel for a regional park.
County spokesman Don Mohler said the county would hold a “community input” meeting in the spring to determine how the property can best be used, other than as a golf course.
“It just wasn’t fiscally responsible to have a golf course that was losing $250,000 a year, and the Revenue Authority will now be able to put additional resources into the other golf courses,” Mohler said. “The county is very excited about being able bring more recreational opportunities to the families in the Kingsville area.”
State Sen. Kathy Klausmeier said she has been contacted by many constituents upset over the course’s closure. In a letter to County Executive Jim Smith, Klausmeier, a Democrat who represents Kingsville, said the course could be viable “if managed properly.”
“I understand there are 33 acres adjacent to the golf course that Baltimore County already owns and I am asked why Baltimore County would close the course when they own this property that could be used for playing fields,” Klausmeier wrote.
A date for the community input meetings has not been finalized.
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