Sunrise owner says he’ll shut down golf course immediately without rezoning

Sunrise Golf Course owner John Byram says he’ll close the county’s only course if his application for a rezone is denied this month.

Byram once again will present plans to county leaders to transform the financially troubled Colbert course into an active retirement development with a mostly par-3 set up. Byram’s proposal is on the agenda for the planning and zoning commission’s Jan. 20 meeting. He’ll present the project to the board of commissioners Jan. 26.

These plans are identical to the ones the county board of commissioners rejected in February of last year.

“The golf course is something I want to keep,” Byram said. “The only way to keep the golf course is allowing an active retirement community be built around it. There’s no way I can keep throwing money at it. I’m running out.”

Byram’s plans call for 158 single-family homes and 60 townhouses. Alterations to the golf course would leave Sunrise with three par-four’s and 15 par three’s.

Byram noted that some of the par threes would be over 200 yards long from the back tees.

“It’s not going to be like a pitch-and-putt, it’s going to be a sure-enough executive-level course.”

The retirement community would be restricted to those 55-and-older, but the course would still be open to the public.

“It’s not going to be just a retirement community golf course,” he said. “It will still be open to the public … There’s a lot of advantages to keep it as a golf course.”

If the project is approved, the land will always stay as either a golf course or green space.

“It cannot be further developed,” Byram said.

Byram bought the course in 2002, but said it’s been nothing but a financial burden ever since.

“I’ve been losing money every year on it,” Byram said. “It’s been a long row to hoe.”

Altering Sunrise and incorporating it into an active adult retirement community is the only way he sees that the golf course can survive in any capacity. Byram said there’s a “pent-up” demand for this and feels this is one of few projects in which developers would feel comfortable given the current plight of the housing market.

With 200 residents, he said there’s a good chance the course in this new incarnation would be successful.

“There are no other retirement communities in North Georgia on a golf course. None,” Byram said. “This would be the first of its kind.”

If approved, Byram said there are those who might buy the project from him. But another denial by BOC means Sunrise’s days are over, he said.

“I’m going to close the golf course immediately,” Byram said. “I’m not going to keep it open more than a few days if I get turned down.”

Then, he says he’ll sell the land off in chunks.

Byram says he has little choice.

Given the tough economic climate, luxury items like golf are usually the first to go. In a word, Byram described business in 2008 as “terrible” for Sunrise.

“It was maybe two-thirds the play that it was the previous year,” he said.

Byram also noted that Jennings’ Mill’s Golf Course was recently hit with foreclosure.

But there is a niche, he said, to be served in retirement communities in North Georgia. Byram explained that Florida, a hotbed for retirees, is not being developed like it used to.

What’s more, he hopes this appeals to University of Georgia alumni as a second-home community.

“That’s a still very active group of retirees that have money,” he said.

Byram said he can’t afford to continue losing his own money each month.

He tried to rezone the course back in 2003 as a regular subdivision, but was denied by the BOC.

The retirement community is the only other option, Byram said.

“It’s the only thing that I can do with it other than shut it down and sell 10-15 acre lots for cows,” he said.