The Yale Golf Course, as pictured in a City Plan presentation.
Yale has won city permission to cut down more than 1,000 trees and renovate its Upper Westville golf course as part of a plan that university officials pitched as making 200 acres of fairways and tees more “sustainable” — and that local activists criticized as environmentally backwards.
That’s after the City Plan Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night to grant inland wetlands, soil erosion and sediment control, and site plan approvals to Yale, providing the institution the final go-ahead to reconstruct land and mow down new growth along properties at 200 Conrad Dr., Stevenson Road and 746 Fountain St.
The goal of that development effort is to return the Upper Westville-based university golf course to its original shape and size from its founding nearly a century ago.
Some attendees of Wednesday's Zoom meeting.
“Opened in 1926, this continues to be one of the top collegiate golf courses in America,” Yale lead architect Jeromy Powers told audience members during that Zoomed City Plan Commission meeting. “The vision before you is just really to create an economically and environmentally sustainable course that offers all students, alumni, faculty, staff, the local community, and the public an exceptional golfing experience.”
The three votes in support of said vision were taken by the commission following summertime input sessions on the project that spurred public controversy, both from environmentalists concerned about the impact of cutting down trees and developing on wetlands as well as neighbors worried about how upcoming construction and reworked water control systems might impact their properties. Read about those issues in detail here and here.
On Wednesday night, Westville resident and environmental advocate Laura Cahn also filed and presented an intervening petition opposing the build-out of the golf course on grounds that it would cause undue damage to long-standing natural resources surrounding the site. “No matter,” Cahn said as she enumerated potential environmental woes that could stem from the development, “Yale should agree to more sustainable maintenance of its golf course. No pesticides, less mowing, less water, and fewer trucks, and Yale should not remove even one more healthy tree.”
However, Yale’s now-approved plans, described in detail here, include chopping down between 1,000 and 1,500 trees, according to city staff reports, in order to reduce encroachment of forest along the course’s original fairways. Yale then intends to replant more than 2,200 additional trees and shrubs around the site, which includes a 300-acre nature reserve to the west of the 200-acre golf course.
“1,000 to 1,500 trees is — it’s mind blowing to me,” City Plan Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe said in response to the application. “Is it necessary to remove 1,500 mature trees?… Seems a little bit extreme in order to be able to make it a nicer golf course.”
Yale representatives, meanwhile, said they will regrade the sports field, grind many of those trees down to their stumps, and build out new irrigation and drainage infrastructure to restore the course’s original, wider boundaries. Powers argued that shaving back those trees is not only key to preserving the history of the early 20th century course and improving quality of play, but to bettering the sustainability of the site itself. For example, he said, an overabundance of shade has damaged the course’s grass, leading to disproportionate use of pesticides and water.
More trees would also come down to allow for the construction of a hauling road through the Yale Nature Preserve, which will also cut off access to the trails during construction, but which developers said is necessary to keep traffic off residential streets while working on the course.
If the course is reopened by 2026 as anticipated, the reworking of the used-to-be member-only course will look closer to its 1926 self while operating as a public space where people can pay to play.
The current boundaries of the golf course as outlined in red, compared to the proposed fairway features drawn in green.
A 2021 design of the renovated golf course.
Only a few members of the public, such as Curtis Drive neighbor Beth Auerbach, expressed skepticism of the project during Wednesday’s meeting, reiterating flooding issues in the area and questioning whether golf course construction could worsen the problem. Upper Westville Alder Amy Marx likewise pitched several questions about construction hours, neighborhood intrusion, and the trees themselves: “In light of the global climate crisis we have and the importance of trees for carbon sequestration … can any of these trees be saved in any way?” she asked.
Marx also asked about the possibility of an alternative route into the construction zone that might evade the wetlands behind Longhill Terrace.
Powers replied that Yale’s new water management plan includes an additional detention basin, which should help with flooding. He said that while the number of trees to come down remains an estimate rather than an exact figure, many of the trees slated for axing were deemed diseased and dangerous by arborists, rather than just being obstacles for golfers.
After more than four hours of back and forth, City Plan Commissioners also debated potential edits to the plan, including different entry roads to the construction site, ultimately determining that in lieu of additional time for further public hearings, the best bet was to move the site plan forward despite Yale’s willingness to negotiate the details.
Commissioners acknowledged the importance of pre-imposed conditions by city staff, which state that Yale has to provide reports to the City Plan Department concerning the ongoing status of soil and sediment control throughout construction as well as the health of inland wetlands for five years post project completion; submit to a site inspection within one year of project completion to ensure compliance with promises for new tree growth; and provide a plan detailing all intended activities within 100 feet of vernal pools for approval prior to the start of the project.
All in all, Commissioner Adam Marchand motioned for a vote in favor of the plan: “It’s important to keep in mind that Yale owns and operates a golf course. It’s in existing use, and it’s gonna continue to be used that way.”
“I don’t have a strong opinion about how great the golf course is, or how great it should be,” he continued. “That’s not my priority, and I don’t play golf … My concern is, how is it going to impact the neighborhood? And after the project is over, will it be better? Will it have fewer negative impacts? And I’ve been convinced that it will, and so that argues in favor of approving it.”
Very interesting meeting but with a most bizarre outcome. The neutral outside professional consultant who surveyed the site identified several issues requiring more data - but Marchand and the others approved the plan without a pause of a few weeks to find those data and reconvene. So odd!
Among the open questions: 1) how many trees does the haul root require be cut? Yale hasnt surveyed that data point specifically yet. 2) A second salient example: the outside experts report identified an endangered species in the wetland ponds. Yales response was that they assumed it was perhaps a different species. Well - theres a way to solve this mystery! Go get the darn organism and find out!
Do you wait and see? No instead this group of city planners decided just to sign off and hope for the best. Cant they have waited two weeks to find out if the darn species is the one the consultant thinks it is or the one Yale hopes it is? RIDICULOUS!!
I will say that among the bright spots of the meeting was the speech of the head of Yale athletics who seems very amenable to working with neighbors and the local alder in a collaborative way. Hopefully, with more conversation, theyll re-allow kids on the10th fairway all of ONE TIME PER YEAR to sled in joy as they have for decades. Im not bettting on that, but Vicki Chun seems reasonable enough to be convinced that the vanishingly small effect on the precious grass of the 10th fairway sledding hill is outweighed by the joy of a neighborhood full of kids.