The Villages of Kiln Creek Owners’ Association now owns the Kiln Creek Golf Club and Resort.
The $3.5 million deal closed last week, shifting ownership from Dick Ashe to the homeowners of the nearly 3,000-home community in Newport News and York County. The loan will be repaid via a $15 per month assessment to each home in the community as well as projected increases in usage of the restaurants and the resort and more parties and weddings.
By closing the deal, the owners’ association will be able to work toward preserving a defunct nine-hole golf course. Ashe had previously submitted plans to change the course’s zoning designation to allow for homes to be built. Now that the deal has gone through, the board will pursue building walking trails and similar amenities on that course to preserve the space, said Charlie Noll, a member of the owners’ association board of directors. He said the board will attempt to get a conservation easement put on the land to avoid any future development.
“Preserving 290 acres of land as natural area and protecting against residential or commercial development is an extremely significant achievement for our community. We now have the opportunity to control our own destiny and protect home values for our residents,” owners’ association board of directors president Dave Radcliffe said in a statement announcing the sale.
A post on an FAQ page on the Owners’ Association website further outlined the rationale behind the deal.
“Kiln Creek was built around a lifestyle — a lifestyle that has become fractured and faded. The board recognizes that the continued existence and future prosperity of the club and the golf courses is critical to maintaining (and hopefully enhancing) property values. By acquiring the club and its property, the Association will control its future use and homeowners will have access to a new central amenity through the Association.”
The 18-hole course will remain in operation as a semi-private course, meaning the public can play there for a slightly higher fee. It will be managed by Affinity Management, a Charlottesville-based management firm.
The change also lowers the rates for residents for the 15 hotel rooms at the resort. The residents will also be able to use the development’s club for meetings, offering a space where all the residents of the development can come together.
Noll said he has received positive feedback from homeowners since news of the deal was announced to them, however a few people have expressed displeasure at the $15 a month assessment. That charge begins in April.
He said the move allows the development to remain in line with the plan for the development, which calls for land to be devoted to recreation. Had the 9-hole course been developed, there would have been less recreational land than designated in the plan.
Ashe had been trying to build homes on the nine-hole course in the past. In addition to the most recent proposal that would have changed the land’s zoning designation, a 2007 bid to build about 300 homes was pulled after resident opposition. In 2009, a similar proposal didn’t go anywhere.
Kiln Creek consists of almost 3,000 homes and more than 10,000 residents in Newport News and York County in addition to the 18-hole course and other amenities. The development has been around since the 1980s, predating many other planned communities with golf courses in the area.
Related Coverage:
