INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — County Commissioners directed County staff from several departments to research if and how the County can help clear the path for Vero Beach to sell the property known as the old Dodgertown golf course.
In 2005, the City of Vero Beach purchased Dodgertown golf course with “the admirable goal of preserving the property as a municipally-owned public golf course, green space, or otherwise as a park-like setting,” according to a letter written by Vero Beach Mayor Richard Winger to County Commission Chairman Peter O’Bryan.
In the same letter, Winger wrote, “the City of Vero Beach currently pays approximately $690,000 per year in debt service on the Dodgertown property loans, which loans will not be paid in full until October 2025.”
City officials know they won’t recoup the $10 million spent on the property at the height of the real estate market, but they’re hoping to garner enough cash to be able to pay off the $5 million or so that’s still owed and use the money they currently pay on the loans to pave roads and possibly to install baffle boxes and other needed infrastructure.
In its efforts to get out from under the golf course debt, the City of Vero Beach wishes to sell the property but is finding it difficult due to the restrictions that the property remain either a municipally-owned public golf course, green space, park-like setting, or any combination of the three uses.
The Board of County Commissioners, as owners of the adjacent Historic Dodgertown complex, has certain easements and parking rights on the City’s property. The City needs a clear title to sell, so Commissioners tasked staff with coming back to them with all the actions that need to be taken to release the County’s claims on the parcel.
At the same time, Commissioner Wesley Davis noted that the County needs some right of way on City property to move forward with a road project, and that maybe something mutually beneficial could be worked out.
Last month, County Administrator Joe Baird and City Manager Jim O’Connor discussed the matter by phone and Baird initially signed off on the concept — but the two did not get into the nitty gritty of all the approvals that would be needed to make it happen.
The “release and discharge by the Commission of the restrictions encumbering the Dodgertown golf course property would help facilitate the feasibility of selling the property at a commercially reasonable value, which would in turn allow redirecting the substantial revenue currently dedicated to the debt service to more pressing public needs and return the property to the tax rolls of Indian River County,” Winger wrote.
