APOPKA, Fla. \u2014 The Rock Springs Ridge neighborhood in Apopka has a 39-hole golf course that has sat untouched and inoperable for more than a decade, but the homeowners association there now has plans to bring it back.<\/p>\n
It’s part of an effort to keep that 300-acre plot of land from being used for new development.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Rock Springs Ridge HOA has been fighting to keep a 300-acre plot of land untouched and get ownership\u00a0
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Instead of hundreds of new homes on the land, the HOA wants to turn it back into a golf course
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The HOA is now in control of the land, paid for by an increase of $370 a year in HOA fees
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If everything goes according to plan, work to restore the golf course at Rock Springs Ridge could start this summer and take around a year to complete<\/p>\n
Rock Springs Ridge HOA president Simon McKenna has been fighting to keep the land untouched.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you believe where you live is worth fighting for, go fight for it,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cLiterally 18 months after I moved here, they closed the south and tried to develop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of hundreds of new homes on the land, the HOA wants to turn it back into a golf course.<\/p>\n
Rocky Hodge, the CEO of Tamarack Golf Management, plans to partner with the HOA on this project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like a good opportunity for both,\u201d Hodge said.<\/p>\n
Hodge took on a similar project at Stoneybrook West a few years ago. The Rock Springs Ridge is not a done deal yet, but once the paperwork is signed, they can move forward.<\/p>\n
The HOA is now in control of the land, paid for by an increase of $370 a year in HOA fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal was always to secure the land first, then we stop development, then we move the process forward,\u201d McKenna said.<\/p>\n
The uncertainty of the land has caused concern for home buyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the deterrents was actually the unknown and the uncertainty of whether or not there was going to be a golf course in their backyard,\u201d said Realtor Brian Whalen. \u201cOther people see the opportunity. They see the timing that if they buy now and the course happens and they do a good job and it is well maintained, it will increase the value of the home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whalen recently sold a house in Rock Springs Ridge. He said the golf course deal being done could help sellers and buyers in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, it is just probably hurting home values a little bit … but when it is finished, it is going to increase the value of the homes,\u201d Whalen said.<\/p>\n
If everything goes according to plan, work to restore the golf course at Rock Springs Ridge could start this summer and take around a year to complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APOPKA, Fla. \u2014 The Rock Springs Ridge neighborhood in Apopka has a 39-hole golf course that has sat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,3140,770,2287,115,1335,139,141,140,9429],"class_list":{"0":"post-236302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-app-local-state-politics","10":"tag-community-news","11":"tag-local-politics","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-orange-county","14":"tag-orlando","15":"tag-orlando-headlines","16":"tag-orlando-news","17":"tag-sarah-winkelmann"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}