Amherst to protect 17 acres at former Hickory Ridge Golf Course

AMHERST — A 17-acre section of the former Hickory Ridge Golf Course is expected to be permanently protected as recreation land that will include trails for the public to walk on and associated features, such as informational kiosks.

As a requirement of the town’s acceptance of a $280,000 Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities state grant for the Hickory Ridge Accessible Riverwalk Loop Trail, Amherst is obligated to transfer a portion of the 191 West Pomeroy Lane site to the Recreation Commission. That will allow the state money to be combined with $120,000 already pledged as a match from the Community Preservation Act account.

Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek told the Town Council at its Dec. 19 meeting that such a transfer is common when the town applies for and receives PARC grants, as the state expects the town to offer something in return. In this case, that return is dedicating a portion of the 150-acre site to passive recreation.

The recreation area will be on the western portion of the property that Amherst acquired for $520,000 last winter.

A loop trail to be on that part of the property will connect to a north-south trail extending from East Hadley Road, including the apartment complexes such as ReNew, The Boulders and Mill Valley Estates.

“Those residents will now be able to access this incredible open space as well as the village center down at Pomeroy Village center,” Ziomek said.

The finished project will not be a boardwalk, as at the Fort River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish & Wildlife Refuge in Hadley. Instead, the trail will be bituminous asphalt and graded and crushed gravel. Existing pavement that formed golf cart paths will remain.

While the trail will be accessible, Ziomek said having a boardwalk and railings would triple the costs.

A small developable piece of the Hickory Ridge property, about 8 acres and where the dilapidated clubhouse and parking lot are, will be put to some other purpose.

Ziomek said the use for that is not yet known, although the clubhouse is expected to be torn down at some point. Ideas being considered are a community center, affordable housing or a fire station. While a South Amherst fire station is preferred for the site of the current Department of Public Works on South Pleasant Street, Ziomek said a study will determine if the former golf course could be suitable for that.

A section of the parking lot is being used temporarily as a staging area for the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of West Street and West Pomeroy and Pomeroy lanes.

Another 26 acres of the golf course, mostly to the north and northeast of the recreation land, are being converted into a 6.2-megawatt solar array.

Amp Solar Development Inc. intends to begin construction on solar arrays in mid-to-late January, Ziomek said. Although privately owned, the town will receive a payment in lieu of taxes of $65,000 to $75,000 a year, Ziomek said.

The transfer of the property and the $400,000 appropriation between the funding sources will be reviewed by the Finance Committee before Town Council action.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at [email protected].