N.J. county commissioner says consolidation of elite golf course ‘town’ with neighbor was long overdue

Christopher Green has hardly ever played an official spherical at one of the premiere golf courses in the environment, which just comes about to be in his hometown.

He did play a spherical or two about 30 several years in the past when he was a caddy at the Pine Valley Golf Club, a super distinctive, private haunt for the prosperous, famed, and effectively related. But that was when no just one was searching.

The club, in fact, was extra than a club. It was, until the to start with of this 12 months, its own municipality, with a borough council, law enforcement drive and a pair of staff, which includes protection guards, to oversee the 600 or so acres of densely wooded hills punctuated by one of the most coveted shrines of golfing in the world.

But Green, 60, even now cannot move foot on the assets, which is wholly owned by the club – even even though he is now mayor of Pine Hill, the borough Pine Valley consolidated with on Jan. 1.

Camden County officers are lauding the consolidation as a price tag-saving go that was extensive overdue.

“Making Camden County a a lot more cost-effective place to reside relies on us consolidating providers and decreasing the myriad redundancies in federal government companies in tiny towns that have considerably less than 100 people,” Camden County Fee Director Louis Cappelli wrote in an e-mail to NJ Progress Media. “Basically, it boggles my head that we had two municipalities that are essentially just golf programs with a several residences on them.”

The other municipality Cappelli was referring to is Tavistock, which has three households and less than 10 inhabitants. It also has a private golf training course, but has a general public cafe and banquet hall. It marked its 100th anniversary very last yr.

On Wednesday, the state submitted a civil legal rights complaint from Pine Valley Golfing Club, alleging it violated New Jersey’s Regulation Towards Discrimination by banning women of all ages from starting to be associates and limiting their means to golf and to access club services.

When Pine Valley was its very own borough, it also successfully limited home ownership to only gentlemen. The director of condition Office environment of Civil Rights in 2019 had peppered then Pine Valley borough officers with queries about “limitations on dwelling ownership,” in accordance to 157 pages of documents received by NJ Advance Media in 2021.

The club resolved to permit women to be customers in 2021, just before the merger with Pine Hill. Condition officials said Wednesday these procedures improved only soon after the condition released its investigation. Club officials did not reply to calls, texts or e-mails trying to get comment.

As a outcome of the merger with Pine Valley, Pine Hill received a $10 million tax ratable that has translated into $1 million in additional tax income this 12 months, mentioned Inexperienced, who spoke to NJ Advance Media just before point out officials declared the submitting of the civil rights criticism.

The borough was by now providing municipal companies, such as police, firefighters and EMS, as part of a shared provider agreement for the inhabitants of much less than two dozen homes in the previous Pine Valley community. Most of the complete-time personnel of Pine Valley, such as the longtime police chief, retired or have been laid off.

The consolidation also gave Pine Hill two personal golf courses. The 3.87-sq.-mile Pine Hill Borough was now home to the former Pine Hill Golf Club, bought by the Trump Organization in 2009 and renamed Trump Nationwide Golf Club Philadelphia.

“Before we ended up a blue-collar local community and we had (Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia),” Inexperienced explained to NJ Progress Media. “Now, we’re however blue collar but we have both of those.

“The principal force again citizens have is, ‘Why can’t we participate in golf there?’”

The median home price in Pine Hill is $135,000, according to recent census info. The ordinary assessment in Pine Valley is virtually $600,000.

Green reported most of the present-day Pine Valley club users do not linger in town following a round, and the 10 people who really stay there generally retain a lower profile.

“Day in and out, we never know who most of the inhabitants are,” said Green, a beverage business IT supervisor. “We may see them at the area Wawa.”

Inexperienced stated he knows Michael Kennedy, the previous mayor of Pine Valley. They show up at the identical church, St. Simon Stock Parish in nearby Berlin Borough. He reported it was not unusual to see him at Mass. Attempts by NJ Advance Media to get to Kennedy ended up not successful.

Eco-friendly said he feels Pine Valley inhabitants voted very last slide to consolidate, in part, simply because of the time determination needed to serve on the Borough Council and other boards.

Green stated there are 17 houses and a few resident “dormitories,” identical to motels, in Pine Valley now. That’s three fewer residences than the 23 that have been cited in the public documents from 2019.

Green mentioned he thinks the golf club is phasing out housing, but referred even more inquiries to the club President Charley Raudenbush, who did not reply to a number of requests for remark from NJ Advance Media for this post.

Green explained he is self-confident there was no pending litigation in opposition to the borough of Pine Valley just before the two boroughs consolidated, introducing he stated he only sees an upside to including a second private golf club to the borough.

Trump National Golfing Club Philadelphia, although also private, is not just about as exclusive, or remarkably rated, as Pine Valley in golfing publications. Pine Valley was rated initially among 100 study course in The united states by Golfing Digest in 2021. Augusta Nationwide, the home of the Masters Event, was ranked No. 2. There were being no Trump golfing classes ranked in the prime 100. Trump National Golfing Club Philadelphia was ranked No. 20 of 25 in New Jersey by the journal, whilst Pine Valley was rated No. 1.

Green stated previous President Donald Trump did not go to the property even though he was in workplace. But former Vice President Dan Quayle often flew in by helicopter to Pine Valley when he was in office environment, and Eco-friendly was frequently on hand. He was a volunteer firefighter and they were expected to be on duty in case of unexpected emergency.

“He would come in and land on the exercise array,” Eco-friendly mentioned. “All of unexpected, the Mystery Service would arrive in and be everywhere. It was anything to see.”

Inexperienced mentioned he after caddied for “a man who received the U.S. Open up,” but couldn’t try to remember his identify. He claimed he also carried the bag for former Flyers star Rick Tocchet.

He claimed he bought the position there from his brother-in-regulation, who obtained his job from Green’s father-in-law. He explained they’ve swapped tales over the a long time about the famed folks they’ve viewed or listened to about passing as a result of.

“There used to be a Catholic church two blocks from the back again entrance,” Inexperienced explained. “People claimed it was not that strange to see Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra in there on a Sunday prior to they teed off.”

There had been also tales about the gangster Al Capone participating in the course in the 1930s. A hideaway he was rumored to have, a 36-acre estate in Pine Hill overlooking the study course, bought for $1.3 million in 2019.

“It has been a good expertise, and at the end of the day, it worked out nicely for all people,” Environmentally friendly said.

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Bill Duhart may possibly be arrived at at [email protected].