Two vastly different redevelopment proposals for the Winnapaug Country Club in Westerly – one creating a golf resort, the other a 2,300-unit housing development – have rekindled debate between the property owner and town residents over the future of the 120-acre parcel.
It’s also a heated discussion that has played out in other communities wrestling with how best to redevelop golf courses, balancing the need for housing and leaving green space.
In Westerly, the housing proposal introduced in December by owner Winn Properties LLC would level the 18-hole public course to make way for 2,300 residential units, 30% of which would be designated for low- and moderate-income households. The other plan, presented by the town’s Economic Development Commission, would keep the course and add resort features and 700 residential units.
Both options are on parallel tracks for approval, with the housing plan before the town Planning Board, and the resort plan needing the Town Council to OK zoning amendments.
The Planning Board was supposed to decide whether to proceed with the housing proposal by March 27, but Winn Properties attorney Matthew Landry has sought an extension to April 30 so town officials can receive public comment and weigh both options.
Town Manager Shawn Lacey did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Winn Properties had proposed developing a resort several years ago, but it was rejected in 2022 following opposition from residents, including Keep Westerly Green, a group concerned about the scale of the plan.
The opposition to the resort has faded now that residents are balking at the new 90-building, $703 million housing proposal.
Nicholas Scola, who owns Winn Properties with his wife, Jill, says the 2,300-unit housing proposal was drawn up after the original golf resort pitch was shot down, and it offers a way to help address the town’s shortage of affordable housing.
“Each town has to make a better effort to provide affordable housing in their communities,” Scola said. “We spent years trying to get the resort project approved by the town. … It’s very difficult to try to work with the town for it not to go through.”
Scola acknowledges that he’d prefer to proceed with the resort plan and has met with Keep Westerly Green in recent months to address concerns about that proposal. “The whole point of what we’re trying to do is keep this golf course viable for the next 100 years,” Scola said.
Edward Rossomando, a member of Keep Westerly Green, says the group is warily supporting the golf resort, though there are still concerns about the density of the proposed resort’s residential units, whether there is enough infrastructure to support the development and how it would affect natural resources.
“Abutters feel extorted by Winn Properties,” Rossomando said. “It’s like there’s a gun to the abutters’ heads. It’s very much an either-or situation.”
The situation is also frustrating to Melina Lodge, but for a different reason.
Lodge, the executive director of the Housing Network of Rhode Island, says Westerly – like the rest of the state – needs affordable housing.
While the HNRI isn’t taking a position on the Winnapaug proposal, Lodge says the housing plans would allow the town to exceed the state’s 10% affordable housing goal.
“Rhode Islanders are being presented with a choice about that future,” she said. “Do you want to invest in a golf resort, or do you want to invest in housing to keep our parents and grandparents, our children, our colleagues and our friends in Rhode Island?”
