Dear Steve Mercer:
Most people have empathy for those who run their own businesses, and I doubt anyone in this community has any personal animosity toward you or your partners. However, your recent letter in the Plant City Times & Observer raised more questions than it answered.
You stated, “No one was interested in buying the Walden Lake Golf Course for three years.” This is just not true. It is possible no one was interested in paying the price and terms that you and your partners did. Regardless, are you trying to suggest that you were acting selflessly in doing this community a favor?
You stated, “In the beginning, the community supported the golf club … then the recession hit.” The recession hit everyone, not just you and your partners. Plant City residents now spend their money at 54 golfing holes in Lakeland to our east (including 36 holes at Champions Gate — your home); 36 five-star golfing holes to our north at Lake Jovita, in little Zephyrhills; 36 five-star golfing holes to our south at Windsong, in little Bartow; and to our immediate west at Riverhills, Bloomingdale, and Buckhorn, in Brandon. In fact, the last golf course in our area to be closed was the course you managed before the recession even got started — the Plant City Municipal Golf Course.
The surrounding golf courses survived the business cycle and now are thriving — what are the real reasons for the current conditions of Walden Lake Golf & Country Club?
You stated, “[The partners] repeatedly asked the community for help but received the answer [the community] cannot help.” If you are referring to the club tax you suggested to the Walden Lake Community Association to help support you and your partners, did you not realize the recession was hitting everyone else, too? The WLCA has said your suggestion of a club tax was dismissed immediately, because it came with no accountability. Regardless, many businesses near Walden Lake depend on patronage from Walden Lake residents. Would you suggest they ask the WLCA impose a tax on each household to subsidize their businesses? If you had had a win-win proposal for the residents of Walden Lake, was it not incumbent upon you to market or sell your plan/business to this community at large — your potential customers?
You state, “Only 10% of those homes adjoining golf courses belong … and why hundreds of golf course are failing around the country.” Again, what community golf course has failed within 50 miles of Plant City?
You state, “We are planning a rebirth … something the community can be proud of.” What is your track record? If you really planned on all these “enhanced amenities,” why haven’t you at least maintained some of what you had?
You state, “We see the possibility … to make our partners whole again — to recover from a hole no one thought possible.” How do we know that your scheme and dreams of a housing development to build out a newer pristine golf course is not just a fast-buck scheme to get out of this debt hole — at the cost of depreciating the assets of the entire community and one that sends the residents of Plant City to other communities to spend their money?
You state, “People are threatening you … bombarding you … up in arms.” I share Vice Mayor Rick Lott’s comments from the July 22 City Commission meeting: “It is wonderful to see the residents exercising their civic responsibilities.” In the last five years, what communications, letters, flyers, emails or any other marketing have you sent to the people of Plant City, your potential customers?
You wanted to clarify rumor versus fact. But, please review your letters and emails. Much of the confusion rests with your communication — or lack thereof. Just a few weeks ago, you presented a four-page “Development and Renovation Project” to a few select people at the WLCA. This paperwork detailed which backyard gets a dwelling and which will not.
The WLCA board members represent the “deed restrictions of the master-planned community.” They do not represent this homeowner in any other capacity. Do you not realize that, in general, a lack of transparency, the mere appearance of impropriety or conflicts of interests can create an environment of mistrust? (This does not just apply just to you. It includes the WLCA, elected officials and to all of us as a community.) Are you taking for granted the individual homeowners and their interests yet again?
You state a federal trustee has released you of restrictions regarding zoning and level of care of the property. Once again, the lack of transparency and full candor leads to more confusion and mistrust. To my knowledge, no one has suggested to the city that it explore exercising eminent domain rights pertaining to the poor conditions of the property? Are you referring to the 25-year golf property clause put in place by WCI, which the WLCA said you tried to buy out years before WCI went bankrupt? Are you referencing your own bankruptcy? If one takes your comments at face value, it seems to smack squarely up against the earlier statement that zoning for something other than golf rests entirely with the city? If you are referring to your Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, one would presume you would have detailed your re-development plans to bankruptcy Judge Rodney May. Are you stating that this federal trustee and his zoning restriction release renders Plant City zoning or citizens concerns irrelevant?
Ironically Mr. Mercer, you and your partners closed by stating, “All we ask is our rights be afforded to us by this great country in which we are proud to live.” On that point, we agree. Nearly 1,000 residents have signed a petition to present to our elected city officials, and once your plans are presented to the public at large, we will have more questions for you, your partners and elected officials.
John Adams
Walden Lake