Keeping greens and fairways lush also requires a lot of fertilizer. It's no accident that the committee charged with controlling the spreading of chicken manure on fields also has power over golf course fertilizer use. Delaware's governments ought to consider this question before they're inundated with projects such as Odessa National. Already Sussex County faces a similar decision over Americana Bayside, where a golf course will lie at the heart of a proposed development of more than 2,200 homes. The arrangement is popular because golf courses, unlike undeveloped open space, can be used as a selling point to homebuyers.
Builders can charge a premium for houses with access to the course.
They can't do that with parks, which, unlike golf courses, are open to all. It might be a different story if golf courses allowed non-golfers onto the grounds for bird watching and nature walking, as courses do in Scotland. Al Mascitti's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.