Yorktown Nixes Contract With Golf Course Developer

YORKTOWN, NY — The Yorktown Town Board has revoked a redevelopment contract for a municipal golf course because the developer has not performed as agreed.

The action by the board comes after months of efforts by town officials to get RC Recreation Development to correct building code violations and open the golf course located at 795 Route 6 in Shrub Oak.

Supervisor Matt Slater said the developer has gone from giving the town four false reopening dates to claiming that the contract does not require him to provide a projected opening date.

“It’s clear to the Town Board that this company is an unreliable partner that is either incapable of redeveloping our golf course or unwilling to do so in a reasonable time frame,” he said.

Slater said that, under the terms of the town’s contract, the town had the right to terminate the agreement for cause. In September, the board ordered RC Recreation Development to open the town’s nine-hole Par 3 golf course for public use by Nov. 15 or face termination of the company’s concession agreement.

On Tuesday, town inspectors visited the golf course and found electrical hazards and many unresolved violations cited in July, including people illegally living in trailers, unsafe bridges and plumbing issues.

Parks Superintendent James Martorano told the Town Board that some of the recent shoddy work at the golf course included laying the sod on the golf greens before installing the irrigation system, which was sitting unassembled on the property.

He said that he didn’t see the course opening within the next two years with the current developer.

Town officials said the developer has repeatedly given projected opening dates since it entered into an agreement to redevelop the golf course in 2014. Most recently, the company’s representatives claimed that the golf course would open July 4.

Town Recreation Commission Chairman Matthew Talbert said the prolonged closure of the course was frustrating, and the redevelopment was not being managed properly.

“I’m sad, because I like the people that are there,” he said, “it’s just that they’re not getting the job done.”

RC Recreation Development has until Nov. 30 to vacate and remove all its belongings and personal property from the park.