Should the Glen Abbey Golf Club get redeveloped?

Should it stay or should it go? The Glen Abbey Golf Club is a distinct and identifying landmark in Oakville. ClubLink Corp., the owners of the land, want to develop a mixed-use community on the 80+ hectare site, while many locals and the town itself wants it to remain a golf course.

ClubLink’s proposal calls for more than 3,000 homes, parkland, and office buildings. In order to prevent the proposal from moving forward, Oakville council recently voted unanimously to designate the course a heritage site.

The knee-jerk reaction to the heritage designation from locals and other GTA-ers was that the beloved course was saved. Very quickly, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton set the record straight. He explained that all the heritage designation does is slow down the process. A development application could still be approved as long as the heritage elements of the land are preserved in the plans.

Via glenabbey.clublink.ca

We see it all the time in Toronto; heritage buildings are redeveloped into high-rises as long as the facade or other heritage element is maintained. The frustrating thing in the case of Glen Abbey is that the heritage designation is apparently quite vague, making it difficult to submit a detailed application that actually stands a chance.

“The thing I’m concerned about is the amount of traffic in the area,” says a local entrepreneur who preferred to remain anonymous. “I don’t care if the golf course is redeveloped or whatever, but if there are thousands of more people, then traffic in the morning is going to be crazy.”

We can see it from both sides. Locals, especially those residing in Fairway Hills, right next to the golf course, believe their properties will lose a lot of cache (and value) that comes with being close to a world renowned golf course. Plus, there’s the issue of increased congestion and disruptive construction.

From ClubLink’s perspective, they should be allowed to do what they want to do with their land, as long as it coincides with the municipality's and the province’s official plan.

Via glenabbey.clublink.ca

To be honest, we don’t fully understand what the heritage elements of Glen Abbey actually are. Is it the course? Is it the green space? The course was designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1977, so it’s not exactly an ancient site, but if it were preserved today it would have the chance of becoming a century old like other world-class courses.   

Is this the beginning of a trend? Will the GTA see other golf courses sold or redeveloped for new housing and mixed-use communities? We can see it happening.

This hypothesis requires more research, but the way we see it, millennials don’t care about golf as much as baby boomers and golf is no longer a major part of business dealings. If the younger generation of homebuyers don’t value golf, how can all the courses remain open? Plus, there’s a shortage of serviceable land across the GTA, but golf courses are basically large infill sites, primed for development.

We’re interested to see what happens with the Glen abbey Golf Club in Oakville! Stay tuned - we’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.