DEARBORN, Mich. (WWJ) – A longtime public golf course in Dearborn will be shut down for the entirety of the 2022 golfing season, thanks to the mess left behind from severe weather last summer.
Despite best efforts, Dearborn Hills simply isn’t suitable for use right now, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said on Wednesday.
The course, on Telegraph near Michigan Avenue, is already in a flood plain and near the Rouge River, which Hammoud said is plagued by logjams.
Pile all that on top of last summer’s historic storms and rainfall, and the course was a wet mess. Dearborn Hills had to close for 45 days of the season, Hammoud said, and it just won’t be in good enough shape to open this year.
Course officials were prepared to rope off most of the course, denying access to a large portion of it, which Hammoud says was “disingenuous.”
“So how do you charge and also justify what you’re charging people to golf on your course if they can’t even experience and enjoy the course as it was meant to be?” the mayor asked.
As for rumors circulating online that the city will sell the course, Hammoud told WWJ that is not going to happen.
He says the land is deeded to the city for the purpose of being a golf course, so even if they wanted to sell, they could not.
“If the city ever were to consider a sale, it actually reverts back to the original ownership. The city doesn’t have the ownership,” he said. So we have no intention on selling, nor does the city have the authority to sell.”
Hammoud estimates that the repairs needed to get the course back into playing shape won’t be cheap.
“I don’t imagine this being a $20,000 solution. This is very much looking like it’s going to be six figures.”
The mayor hopes to get an engineering team on-site and eventually a cost estimate in front of Dearborn City Council for remediation.
In the meantime, the banquet center at Dearborn Hills will be open through June.
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