The Green Pond Country Club, located near Notre Dame at green Pond High School in Bethlehem Township, has been around for some time. According to the webpage, the course was designed by Alexander Findlay, a Scottish immigrant known as the Father of American Golf.. He designed the greens in 1931 to catch the late fall sun, guaranteeing more playing time than at other courses.
In 1932, Green Pond Golf Course was first listed as a fictitious name with the state. At that time, the property was owned by Henry S Snyder. In 1953, Green Pond Golf Course, Inc., was incorporated, with Orville Smith as its first President. The golf course was conveyed to this corporation in 1955.
From litigation files, I know that W. John Daub was the President in 2007. Rodger Zellner, and Charles Churchman were other corporate officers.
The litigation arises from a $7.5 million Agreement of Sale, in 2002, under which McMansion builder Toll Brothers was going to buy the course and build a golf course community. It never happened.
Over five years, Toll Brothers paid $585,000 for extensions on the agreement of sale. It had conditional approval from Township Commissioners, but still was overwhelmed with stormwater and traffic issues.It spent another $300,000 for some other deal for the golf course, as well as $135,000 in engineering studies. All told, it sunk for than $1 million into the project when Green Pond decided to pull the plug and refused to grant another extenstion. A lawsuit was filed in 2007, and ultimately settled.
4 comments:
More "than $1 million into the project." And how much did Petrucci spend? Now a third developer... you'd think the land would start to get a certain reputation that it just isn't worth it. Too much baggage with traffic and storm water. The birds are just icing on the more expensive cake, otherwise it would have been developed decade ago.
Let me rephrase how I originally put it: sometimes its best to simply appreciate beauty and leave it alone, rather than trying to "improve it".
I like playing #14 when the pond is frozen in winter and balls scoot across to the green. In season, it's the second most difficult hole on the course. In winter, it's an easy birdie, and they should be preserved.
Moravian Academy's high school down Green Pond Road about 1/8 mile, has "Snyder House", a small mansion that dates to at least about 1920. It was inhabited by the Snyder Family. Seems quite possible the Henry Snyder that owned Green Pond Golf Course in '32 is related.
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