Former Emerald Woods golf course sold for $4.7 million

COLUMBIA TWP. — The more-than 300-acre former Emerald Woods Golf Course has changed hands for $4.7 million, according to a property transfer and purchase agreement filed with the Lorain County Auditor's Office. Dated Aug. 11 and finalized last week, the agreement will see 304.5 acres transferred from Emerald Woods Golf Course Limited Partnership and Walter McClain to EWGC Development Group LLC. The limited partnership owes McClain more than $500,000, according to the documents, and as part of the arrangement he agreed to release the mortgaged debt if he was paid that amount. EGWC Development Group will pay $3.5 million cash to the limited partnership and $500,000 to McClain to satisfy the debts he is owed by Jan. 25, according to the documents. Lorain County also owns a sanitary sewer easement on the property, which is bordered on the north side by Snell Road, to the east by Clark Road and to the west by Boone Road. County commissioners publicly announced plans in April to create three tax increment financing districts in Columbia Township to pay for sanitary sewers ahead of the expected development of the property. Commissioners had three items on their agenda for their meeting Wednesday — authorizing a developers agreement with Columbia Township, creating three TIF districts and advertising for bids for a sewer and pump station on Boone Road in the township — related to the future development. However, prior to introducing the items, Commissioner Lori Kokoski said all three would be tabled until the board could get more "clarification" on them. She did not elaborate during the video conference call. The golf course closed in 2017 and was planned for residential development. No other interested parties came forward to purchase Emerald Woods, officials said, and plans for the development have resulted in significant controversy. The property has been primed for development for at least three years and the matter of how many residential units might go on it ended up the focus of a civil lawsuit more than two years ago. In November 2018, Columbia Township trustees begrudgingly accepted a settlement agreement with MLM Development, which had sued the township in Lorain County Common Pleas Court over plans to build 660 residences on the former golf course. MLM wanted to build 660 units with at least two per every acre of the 356 total acres it sought to develop. Township officials and township zoning rules called for fewer, and the issue ended up in court. Township trustees said a protracted court battle probably would have ended in the township losing the fight, and could have bankrupted the township in the process. The township's insurance company paid $80,000 in legal fees before the matter was resolved. More than 200 township residents showed up at a trustees meeting at Columbia High School to oppose the settlement and express their displeasure with their elected representatives. They said increased traffic and increased population in the township would put a strain on the schools, roads and township services, among other reasons they opposed the plan. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.