VAN BUREN, Ark. — The Van Buren City Council voted, 4-2, against reopening the Cedars Country Club on Monday, Jan. 29.
For 60 years, the 60 acres of Cedars Country Club have been in the heart of Van Buren. Over the last few years, however, the golf course has been shut down.
"Due to the property getting in bad shape, it’s been sitting vacant," Van Buren resident Kent Henderson said. "So, Kevin and I formed a group, a nonprofit group, that wanted to take the course over. We just, we wanted to get the old members back together."
For the past eight months, Henderson and Kevin Clifton have held town hall meetings and collected signatures from residents who want the 9-hole course to reopen.
"We went through a six to eight-month process with the Parks and Recreation Committee in Van Buren," Henderson said. "They gave us their blessing to go in front of the city council. They recommended this base be a golf course, and then we went to the city council last night."
Henderson said he was surprised the Van Buren City Council voted against reopening the golf course because the city doesn't have any plans for the 60 acres.
"We got to be defeated by a four-to-two vote, which surprised us because they don't have a plan in place and they're going to have to continue to pay maintenance to keep the course up," Henderson said.
Van Buren Mayor Joseph Hurst said, "The next step will be to return to the Parks and Recreation Commission to continue engaging the public as we determine the best possible use for the golf course land."
In the meantime, residents will have to drive to other cities to play golf. The group also reached out to the Van Buren golf team which doesn’t have a home course right now. They’re having to travel to Eagle Crest in Alma or to Ben Geren Park in Fort Smith in order to play.
"I'm just disappointed with the result," Clifford said. "You have to be able to now have to have to drive, you know, 20 miles in either direction to play when you've got the actual course that was set up to be a golf course right in your backyard. I mean, it would be nice again, to be able to have the same communities and same families ... Even my kid and I grew up on the course. It'd be nice to have our same families to be able to do the same thing with our children. But, unfortunately, that's not possible."
Mayor Hurst said the next Parks and Recreation Commission meeting will be scheduled soon and can't speculate at this time if there will be a tax increase on this property.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.