Town of Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - The former Westwood Golf Course is getting a second life as Erie County and the Town of Amherst partner to transform it into "Willowdale Park."
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz says the park will include a 9-hole course, walking trails, and a playground.
"Erie County will invest $3.7 million from a capital reserve fund, part of it which was already set aside for use in this park, and another 3 million in budget balancing amendments to rebuild and restore the golf course and begin work on a passive park. What people who may have played the golf course before know as the first through ninth holes is going to be turned into a passive park with walking trails, wildlife viewing areas, other types of non-active recreation. You're not going to see baseball fields, you're not going to see soccer fields, but you're going to see people coming and riding their bikes, people walking with their families," stated Poloncarz.
Poloncarz says the project is expected to be complete, with golfers on the green, sometime next year.
"For the time being, the old clubhouse is to be determined, but we do plan on using it for some offices, for county government. Not so much public offices, but for the Parks Department and other departments. It needs a needs a little work on the inside, but it's actually not in that bad shape. The site is in a lot better shape than what we thought when we first began these conversations," stated Poloncarz
Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa says the original plan was to turn it into the Amherst Central, however, it became obvious that more help was needed for the project.
"When you look at Erie County Parks, our county parks under county executive Poloncarz have rivaled our state parks in terms of quality. They have fundamental understanding of how to deal with large, passive parks. They have a fundamental understanding about how to deal with infrastructure inside of those parks, maintenance of those parks. We asked the County Executive if he would look to partner on something on this site, and the county had ideas that they were able to bring to the table. I'm not a golf historian by any stretch of the imagination. Understanding the significance, though, of what Willowdale and what the Country Club was to Amherst is something that the town board didn't want to lose sight of," stated Kulpa.