CASSELBERRY, Fla. – The Deer Run Golf Course in Casselberry has been closed since May of 2019.
What You Need To Know
- Development plans for Deer Run Golf Course on hold
- The county is currently evaluating the property
- Residents are not in favor of development
The current owner has put recent development plans on hold while the county evaluates the property.
Just off the old par 5 5th at Deer Run is more than a row of homes.
“The golf ball graveyard,” Gina McRorie said, laughing in her backyard.
McRorie has lived on the now-closed golf course for four years. Her yard sometimes has been mistaken for a driving range. The electric box still has the ball marks to prove it.
“Saturday mornings, Saturday afternoon, and on the weekends,” McRorie begins to explain when talking about golf balls coming in to her yard. “Even week days, but they are all down in here.
For nearly two years residents in Deer Run have been campaigning to, "Save Deer Run," Residents do not want to see development, and the county is interested in the water rights. The water could save @seminolecounty millions in the years to come. @MyNews13 pic.twitter.com/YKCSgSsljf
— Spectrum News Asher Wildman (@AsherWildman13) February 5, 2021
The errant shots are gone, but the course remains. Residents are hoping for green space, the county is looking for what is considered a hazard on the course a multi-million dollar savings in the long run underneath it. Water.
“Those wells have something called a consumption of use permit,” according to Seminole County Commissioner of District One Bob Dallari. “The right to pull water out of the ground.”
The Deer Run Golf course can pull about 200,000 gallons of water a day.
Dallari envisions the county benefitting from what’s underneath, and giving residents what they want above ground.
“I’d prefer it to become a park instead of buildings behind my house,” McRorie said.
It’s tough to envision what a dead golf course like Deer Run can become looking at it, but on Tuesday residents of Deer Run will get to see a rough draft drawing of what the county is proposing to them for the first time on Tuesday.
“We are going to show them and walk them through the master plan,” Dallari said. “We want their opinion.”
The ownership group of Deer Run also owns the Wekiva Golf Club in Longwood, and is looking to sell both courses together. An albatross of an opportunity according to Dallari for the county to generate revenue above ground and below it.
According to the commissioner, the Wekiva Golf Club is a high recharge area for water, and that water would also be valuable to the county.
According to the owners of Deer Run and Wekiva there is no firm asking price on the two courses yet. The county hopes to have a value of the Wekiva and Deer Run golf courses by the summer.