BERLIN – Following rumors regarding the future of the Bay Club, the attorney representing the property has agreed to keep Berlin officials informed of any redevelopment plans.
Hugh Cropper, the attorney representing the Bay Club for the Carl M. Freeman Companies, told town officials Monday he would provide them with a presentation of redevelopment plans before any approvals were sought from the county.
“They understand it’s in very close proximity to the western border of town,” Berlin Mayor Gee Williams said. “Based on previous workings with these folks, I have no reason to believe they won’t stand behind everything they say.”
Williams said during Monday’s town council meeting that he’d heard in recent weeks that owners of the Bay Club, the 36-hole golf course just outside town, planned to turn it into a campground.
“We had been told and heard, you know how it is in small towns, that the Bay Club was considering a campground and that they were very close to going to the Worcester County Board of Zoning Appeals,” Williams said.
He drafted a letter on behalf of the council asking county officials to keep the town’s representatives informed. Before it could be reviewed and sent, however, he said he received a call from Cropper who told him that such a letter would be premature.
“He basically said ‘we haven’t even decided what to do with the property yet,’” Williams said. “That’s one of the options they’re considering but they’re considering others … It’s not like they’ve set a deadline. They want to consider different alternatives.”
Williams said Cropper agreed to make a presentation at an open session council meeting once the property owners had made up their minds about the golf course’s future. The mayor reminded Cropper of that in a letter he shared with the council Monday.
“You were very clear to note that the Berlin mayor and council will receive a presentation about any proposed redevelopment plan for the Bay Club prior to any procedural filings with either the county or town by the property owner,” the letter read. “We appreciate your client’s understanding of the importance of any future development of the Bay Club to the citizens of the Town of Berlin.”
Earlier this month, Cropper told The Dispatch the possibility of turning the Bay Club into a campground had been discussed but that nothing had been decided yet.
“They just want to do something productive with the property,” he said.
