The quiet neighborhood is exactly why Nicholas Guercio and his wife moved behind the Westwood Country Club 12 years ago.
But now the future of former country club is in limbo.
Westwood Country Club closed In July of 2014 and Mensch Capital Partners unveiled a $238 million plan for the site. Their plan outlined a neighborhood with townhomes, senior living, apartments, recreation and a neighborhood center.
A plan many neighbors oppose to this day.
Developers say the land is contaminated due to years of pesticide use on the course. But the last thing many people want in this neighborhood is additional development - saying the site would be better suited as a park.
“You know what they want to do with the course it’s going to be a lot of traffic that I think is going to be driven out of there,” Guercio told 7 Eyewitness News.
Now, just shy of two years since Mensch announced their plans for the site, a drive by the former country club doesn’t show the beginnings of a walkable neighborhood, just a fence with a sign calling the site contaminated.
So where do things stand? Town of Amherst supervisor Barry Weinstein says the ball is in Menschs’ court.
Weinstein says and environmental impact statement draft was accepted in December of 2015. But according to a spokesperson for the development group there is no timeline on actual development.
