LYNNFIELD — Richard Luff thinks he may have come up with the solution to winning support for an age-restricted community at the Sagamore Spring Golf Course.
The golf course manager and one of its owners said the development team plans to reintroduce plans at next spring’s Town Meeting for Fairways Edge at Sagamore. But this time it will propose about 75 condominiums. That’s about half the number of units to be built around the 18-hole course along the eastern side of the green rejected last year by voters. The homes on Main Street will be marketed to persons aged 55 and older and a deed restriction forbids anyone under 18 from living on the grounds.
“Nothing is set in stone, but our objective is to offer a much smaller scale project next year,” Luff said. “When you look at the hurdles of getting water and sewer services to the site, all things that require monumental infrastructure changes which are out of our control, we realize the original number of units was just too much.”
Still, he said the essentials of the project are expected to remain the same.
The planned gated residences off Main Street would include attached two-bedroom townhomes ranging from 2,400 to 3,000 square feet, built in clusters of duplexes, triplexes, and quads, with prices from $750,000 to $900,000.
While the proposal won a majority of Town Meeting votes last year, it failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
Opponents said they worried about the impact of more school children squeezing into already crowded schools. They noted while the over-55 project will keep families out, the empty nest buyers from Lynnfield will sell their three- or four-bedroom home to families with children. In addition, they raised concerns about exacerbating traffic congestion on Main Street.
The 105-acre property is owned by the Sagamore Spring Real Estate and the Luff, Luff & Thompson trusts, whose trustees include Barbara Luff, Robert Morse and Erika Fagan, according to county records. The Sagamore Spring Golf Course has been owned by the Luff and Strobel/Thompson families since 1929.
Whatever happens, the 90-year-old course will remain.
“Our objective remains to keep the 18 holes of golf open and available because it is important to us,” he said. “But we realize it’s got to be a win-win for everyone.”
