Homeowners Association Sues Coffee Creek

A lawsuit was filed against the developing of the former Coffee Creek Golf Course by the Coffee Creek Homeowners Association on Aug. 14, as the homeowners believe they have property interests they wish to protect.

Kyle Copeland, the developer who bought the land, plans to develop the golf course into an area with multi-family residential buildings and commercial businesses.

The University of Central Oklahoma’s men’s golf coach Josh Fosdick admitted that while the men’s team was never able to use the course while he was coach, he said the women’s team would use the facility.

“It was useful for what it was built to be and that was a relaxing facility for the community to use,” Fosdick said.

Fosdick also said that while he thinks it would be awesome to at least keep nine holes for the community, at the end of the day, that decision came down to money.

“[Copeland] had the money to purchase the land and nobody was able to compete with his bid,” Fosdick said. “I see the city’s point of view for rezoning as there would be taxes to be made off all those residential units and businesses. [It] just stinks to lose another golf course in the area.”

David Jacobson, Edmond attorney and Coffee Creek resident, said that the current single-family residential areas and golf course were built in the 1990s by the same people, making Coffee Creek a golf course community.

“You can’t have a golf course community without a golf course,” Jacobson said.

As both the homes and course were built at the same time, Jacobson said it would create an implied easement, which mandates that the golf course is part of the residential community and it must stay a golf course. The lawsuit filed was presented to the court for them to determine if there is an actual implied easement.

The lawsuit also pointed out what it claims are several deficiencies in the proposal the developer gave the city planning commission when asking to rezone the area from single-family homes to multi-family homes and commercial businesses.

One deficiency that Jacobson pointed out is that the golf course is a floodplain, meaning it is low ground and subject to flooding. He said that golf courses can be built on floodplains because the grass absorbs all the excess rainwater, but residential and commercial areas need extra additions to be built to make sure the area doesn’t flood.

Currently, Jacobson said the developer’s proposal, a Planned Unit Development, does not address how it will handle flooding.

“Right now, when it rains really hard, there are flooding issues and we’re afraid those are going to be made worse if we have lots of streets and rooftops,” Jacobson said.

The planning commission continued the review and consideration of the zoning request, and has given the developer 30 days to go in and correct any deficiencies the request may have. Planning commission voting will resume Sept. 18.