Monica Hernandez / Eyewitness News
HARAHAN, La. -- Terri Valenti and her husband have enjoyed the view from their home for 25 years. It’s the reason they moved to across the street from Harahan’s colonial golf course.
But their view could eventually replaced by 15 acres of commercial property.
“The garbage trucks, the garbage dumpsters, the lighting, the lighting will be on all night, it definitely, it’s gonna be a huge impact on our ability to enjoy our home,” Valenti said.
But Colonial Club officials say that’s the best way to save the course from foreclosure. After years of financial trouble, the club owes over $6 million to its lender. Club officials say they can pay off that debt if they sell part of the 88 acres to a Connecticut based developer that would build businesses and a parking lot.
“The golf course as it exists today will not remain intact. It cannot. There is no financial plan that I or anyone else has put forward forth that will get us out of debt and allow that golf course to remain as-is today,” said Jay Beatmann, attorney for the Colonial Country Club. “It can’t happen.”
But affected neighbors are up in arms. Dozens of people Thursday night packed Harahan City Hall for the first of four meetings designed to let residents voice their views about Colonial Country Club’s potential redevelopment.
While some, like the Valenti’s, strongly oppose the redevelopment, others who live further away from the proposed site think it’s a good thing.
“There’s no other options. It’s the only option. If we do not do the redevelopment, there will be 250 houses out here and the flooding that goes with it.”
“In the event our plan does not pass, the golf course will end up a residential development,” Beatmann said. “We think we’ve but forward a plan that’s far better than that."
But those like the Valenti’s aren’t so sure.
“The people on down the street are still going to be looking at green space and we’re gonna be the sacrificial lambs," Valenti said. "We’re going to be the one that are going to lose their property value and that lose our enjoyment of our property.”
