BY DAN HILDEBRAN
By a 3-2 vote, the Keystone Heights City Council voted to end discussions of the city acquiring the Keystone Heights Golf Course.
Council Member Tony Brown, who unsuccessfully pushed for a similar motion last November, said he thought the city’s acquisition of the approximately 46-acre tract in Bradford County would be a financial “nightmare.” He added that the city faced an uncertain revenue outlook with state leaders discussing cutting or eliminating property taxes.
Last November, Brown complained that he kept reading inaccurate social media posts that the city intended to acquire the nine-hole layout and received pushback from city residents telling him the idea was “crazy.”
During the council’s March 3 meeting, City Manager Charlie Van Zant gave council members a summary of his involvement in the discussions, telling them course co-owner Brad Harvey first informed city leaders in June 2024 that he intended to sell the property. The following month, the city manager discussed the idea of the city buying the parcel with Mayor Nina Rodenroth and Harvey. Van Zant then recounted the council’s November 2024 meeting, during which council members discussed the proposed purchase and, over Brown’s objections, voted to instruct Van Zant to continue researching the proposal.
The city manager said he met with the homeowner’s associations near the course in January and with golf course consultants, golf tourism, and communications professionals.
Council Member Elston “Speedy” Kussler, who along with Rodenroth voted against Brown’s motion to terminate the discussions, said he was against the proposed purchase now but was still interested in considering the idea for the future.
“I just hate to drop it,” he said. “I know we can’t buy it. I know I wouldn’t vote to buy it, but I don’t want to discourage anybody if it’s not costing us anything.”
Kussler added that investors might, in the future, join the city in a golf course deal, and he did not want to terminate that possibility.
Rodenroth said the course attracts area residents outside the city to spend money within the municipality. She also noted that several golf courses, including some city-owned and some identified as historic, were doing well.
“There are teams of golfers who do come (from) out of state; again, they’re not (Keystone Heights residents), but they come and spend money,” she told her colleagues. “They’ll spend it in our town, but they’ll also spend it on that golf course.”
The mayor said that although the city could not handle buying the course now, she did not want to shut down conversations about a future investment.
City Attorney Rich Komando cautioned council members that if they bought the course, they would have to communicate a legitimate public purpose for the acquisition.
He added that contrasted with the airport and cemetery, which the city acquired at no cost, the asking price for the golf course is $1 million.
