KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP, Mich. \u2014 While the future of a beloved Kalamazoo golf course is up in the air, one township official is making it clear that there are no plans to sell it at this time.<\/p>\n
Two longtime managers at Grand Prairie Golf Course will be retiring at the end of the 2026 season, according to Kalamazoo Township Supervisor David Combs.<\/p>\n
Combs says an investor is eyeing the property as a potential site for single-family housing, but there are currently no offers on the table.<\/p>\n
“To be clear, there is no plan to sell the Grand Prairie Golf Course,” Combs said. “There has been no offer made, no offer accepted, no offer being currently considered.”<\/p>\n
Kalamazoo Township owns the golf course and because of a resolution passed by the board in 1989, the property is to be only used for recreational use.<\/p>\n
However, the township is getting the property appraised.<\/p>\n
“The short version is the revenue has been virtually non-existent for the township over the past especially the past decade or so and maintenance costs have been rising,” Combs said.<\/p>\n
According to Combs, the golf course is barely breaking even and the township not only needs to find new management to run it, but also come up with a plan so its profitable.<\/p>\n
“We have to do something. If the township does nothing, there will be an empty field there next year, not a golf course,” Combs said. <\/p>\n
Residents and golfers News Channel 3 spoke with say they are afraid of the golf course going away. <\/p>\n
South Haven resident Kendra Super has played at Grand Prairie since she was a little girl. Her and her dad, Timothy Berkey, come every season.<\/p>\n
“I have golfed here my whole life,” Super said. “I feel like it’s a tradition, it’s history, it is not only a great resource for the people of this community but also surrounding communities.”<\/p>\n
Kalamazoo residents Katie Kelly and Ike Turner have lived in the neighborhood across from Gull Prairie for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
“I’ve known several people in the neighborhood who literally moved to the neighborhoods so they can walk to the golf course,” Turner said. <\/p>\n
Combs says the township knows how much Grand Prairie means to the community and the township hopes to keep it operational if feasible.<\/p>\n
“The board had a conversation about actually expanding the golf course operations to include potentially things like a restaurant and even more facilities,” Combs said. <\/p>\n
“If there was a way we could keep it as a park or a community-focused area with some ways that the township can also profit off of it or at least break even and pay for it, would be amazing,” Kelly said.<\/p>\n
Combs says the township wants to hear from community members before they make any decisions. He is encouraging people to come to the board of trustees meetings. <\/p>\n
The next board of trustees meeting is scheduled for Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. at Charter Township of Kalamazoo Administrative Offices.<\/p>\n
By then, Combs said the township should have the property appraisal back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP, Mich. \u2014 While the future of a beloved Kalamazoo golf course is up in the air,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-791548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}