PROVIDENCE -- The frayed business relationship between the Aquidneck Island Land Trust and the Newport National Golf Club is one step closer to being mended.
The two came to an agreement yesterday, spelling out how much say the trust will have on a host of land development issues, after months of negotiations and hours of court testimony. It brings some tentative resolution to a dispute which led, in part, to the failing golf club being put into receivership in August.
The agreement has yet to receive approval from Judge Michael A. Silverstein, of Providence Superior Court, who is presiding over the receivership proceedings. There will be a hearing on Friday at 9:30 a.m.
One major breakthrough in the agreement is the asking price for two parcels of land, known as the Tibbetts and Perry parcels, which the trust has agreed to sell for $750,000 and $500,000, respectively. In August, an appraisal commissioned by the preservationists found the two parcels, 86 acres in all, to be worth $2.5 million each.
Newport National _ which had been in negotiation to buy the parcels for $850,000 since 1997_ and its backer, Realty Financial, balked.
"We said from the beginning we were always willing to negotiate [the price]," said Stewart MacNaught, a member of the land trust board. "We feel fine about the prices. We're looking at the overall package."
The consensus between the prominent land preservation organization and the lawyers who now oversee the golf club is significant, land trust officials said. It comes three months after an acrimonious public spat with the former chief executive of the golf club, Donald Page, who accused the trust of attempting to sabotage their planned expansion, another 18-hole course to be called the Vineyard Course. And it begins the process of sorting through the many ties the land trust had with the golf club after a years-long relationship.
That process will be important when it comes to finding a buyer for the golf club, which is more than $20 million in debt. The agreement, filed in Providence Superior Court yesterday afternoon, spells out for a possible buyer restrictions on how the land may be used, according to the trust's conservation easements.
"Having it in black and white is good for everybody," MacNaught said.
The agreement also deals with the completion of a public walking and bridle path, and offers options on paying back $2 million that the land trust gave the golf club three years ago in exchange for conservation easements. It also states that the trust has the final say on where any future owner could build four homes_ which were allowed in the original easement_ and has a say in any plans for a future golf clubhouse.
Robert Wieck, the lawyer representing the receiver Richard Gemma, said yesterday the golf club will be auctioned in January. The impending sale will be advertised in the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Hartford Courant and in golf trade magazines. Last month, a Rhode Island company offered $10 million for the facility, which has been plagued by financial problems since its inception in the mid-1990s. Attorneys said the bidding will start at $10.1 million.
Yesterday's agreement does not deal with all the sticking points between the golf club and the land trust. Still unresolved is the fate of two more parcels of land _ owned by private citizens but with development rights in the hands of the land trust _ which the golf club has said it needs to build the Vineyard Course.. The easements on those acres preclude golf, the trust has said.
MacNaught described the ongoing negotiations with Gemma as "one step at a time. There's a lot on the table right now," MacNaught said. "But we've come a long way."
To contact Jenny Holland, phone 253-1200 or e-mail jholland(at)projo.com.
