Kentucky county bought a private golf course. Now it wants to sell it. Why some are angry

Franklin County officials said they still haven’t made a final decision on whether to sell a defunct golf course to private developers despite pushback from neighbors surrounding the former Duckers Lake Links.

The possible sale of the golf course is on the April 3 agenda for a fiscal court meeting, Franklin County magistrates said.

In October 2022, the Franklin County Fiscal Court paid $850,000 for roughly 129 acres of the former Duckers Lake golf course near the Frankfort and Woodford County line. The golf course was previously owned by Whitaker Bank after the private golf course went belly up.

The money used to pay for the golf course came from American Rescue Plan Act, or federal coronavirus relief money funding, Franklin County officials said and documents show.

Franklin County Judge-Executive Michael Mueller said the Franklin Fiscal Court has been told by Franklin County Attorney Max Comley and Stites and Harbison, a Lexington law firm it recently hired to help oversee its federal COVID funding, that it was OK to sell the golf course even though federal funding was used to buy it.

“We even called Senator (Mitch) McConnell’s office who called the treasury and they said we could sell it,” Mueller said.

Multiple emails the Herald-Leader sent to the U.S. Department of Treasury, which oversees the American Rescue Plan Act funding, seeking comment on the sale were not returned.

“We have not made any final decisions,” Mueller said of the fiscal court’s decision to sell the land.

The Franklin Fiscal Court put out a request for proposal to developers for the 129 acres in October 2023. Two bids were received.

One of those bidders was Hickman Branch Developers, a consortium that includes WG&T Builders, whose owners include former Sen. Ed Worley, Lexington law firm McBrayer, Grant’s Excavating and Union Brewing. The group offered to purchase the 129 acres for $1,350,000 million. The proposed plan includes apartments, condominiums, single-family homes, a restaurant and a brewery, as well as walking trails and sports courts.

Raza Business Group, out of Georgia, also submitted a proposal to purchase the golf course for $1 million. That proposal includes reopening a golf course, apartments and a possible wildlife education center.

The land is already zoned for a housing development, neighbors said.

‘It just stinks’: Neighbors say they want it to stay green space

Neighbors said when the county purchased Duckers in October 2022 there was no discussion about the county flipping it and selling it to developers.

When word spread about the request for proposals, neighbors were angry. When they saw the two proposals, they were worried. Hundreds of new homes, apartments, condominiums in that area will create havoc, some said.

“When they bought it, we thought it was light at the end of the tunnel,” said Mark Toothaker.

Now, it’s hard to fathom so many proposed homes and condominiums on what is now green space.

“We just find it very odd and out of bounds for the county to use ARPA money (COVID-19 funds) to buy this and turn around and sell it to developers,” said Toothaker. “It just stinks.”

Scott Shannon, who has lived around Duckers since 2012, said many people would like to see it as a golf course or green space. Man O War Golf ran it as a golf course for years when Whitaker Bank still owned it. The clubhouse could also be leased to a private entity for events or a restaurant. It’s possible for the county to make money off the former golf course and still keep it green space, he said.

“We would love to see it as a green space,” Shannon said.

The Hickman group’s proposal would put hundreds of people and new houses on county roads and city septic systems that weren’t built to handle that many people, said Danny Anderson, whose home would back up to proposed condominiums near the former 18th hole. Anderson recently built his home on the property.

“They are proposing what is a city development way out here in the county,” Anderson said. The city’s septic system would have to be revamped to handle that amount of new construction, he said.

Others said there are apartments planned for Leestown Road or US 421 that are closer to the Frankfort city limits. That makes sense. Franklin County needs more affordable housing, not high-end housing that borders a golf course, some said.

Former Franklin County Judge-Executive Huston Wells said when the land was purchased in October 2022, there was no concrete plan in place. Wells said he held a meeting with Duckers Lake neighbors in late fall or early winter of December 2022. Wells was about to leave the office at the time. Some of the ideas floated at that meeting included reopening the club house and possibly the driving range, using the green space for cross country tournaments and boating and kayaking on Duckers Lake.

“There was no talk about selling it for a housing development,” Wells said. Wells said the outgoing magistrates on the fiscal court did not want to commit the future fiscal court to a specific project.

Magistrate Kelly Dycus, who first started serving on the court in 2023, said she was not aware the county had received bids until Duckers Lake neighbors put in an open records request. After those proposals became public, the emails and phone calls from constituents started.

“I have not received a single phone call or email from anyone who wants us to sell that land,” Dycus said. “Not one single person wants me to vote for this.”