Popular Indiana Golf Course Saved From Developers

CAMBY, Ind. — A beloved golf course just 15 miles from downtown Indianapolis will remain a community green space for now after developers scrapped a controversial plan to redevelop the course into hundreds of homes.

Indianapolis-based Gradison Land Development last week withdrew a petition to rezone 190 acres of The Links at Heartland Crossing, a private golf course, to residential use, hours before the proposal was scheduled for a public hearing before the Morgan County Advisory Plan Commission.

Residents of the Heartland Crossing neighborhood, a sprawling community of 2,500 homes surrounding the course and spanning three counties, have been vocal in their opposition to residential development on the golf course since plans were unveiled in June. They had planned to speak out against the proposal before the commission.

Kari Mann, who owns a home across the street from the golf course, said neighbors were relieved the plan wasn’t being considered as is. Mann and other opposition leaders spread the word in the neighborhood after the developers withdrew their petition, she said.

Heartland Crossing residents said they believed Gradison abandoned his rezoning efforts after learning of an agreement reached nearly 30 years ago to preserve the golf course as green space for Heartland Crossing. That agreement was reached as the housing community was taking shape, Mann said.

“We are encouraged that our research has provided us with information that will help us ensure that the green space remains and that the relationships we have built with neighboring counties continue to strengthen,” Mann said in a message to IndyStar.

She added that the community “is confident that future development applications with minimal green space will not be permitted.”

Representatives for Gradison Land Development did not initially respond to requests for comment.

The development company cannot apply for a rezoning for at least three months and must submit a new proposal for consideration in the future, Morgan County Planning and Zoning Director Laura Parker said.

Heartland Crossing is located 15 miles southwest of downtown Indianapolis in Camby, a city at the intersection of Marion, Morgan and Hendricks counties. The community is divided into a dozen subsections, each housing a different style of residence, from starter homes to ranch-style retirement homes. Construction on the newest section was completed earlier this year.

Several residents, including Mann, told IndyStar that their main concern is the density of the proposed development. In a preliminary plan submitted to the county and provided to Heartland Crossing residents this summer, developers envisioned building 600 homes on the nearly 200-acre golf course.

“We’re not an anti-growth community. We’re a controlled-growth community,” resident Brian Wiser told IndyStar last month. “It’s not just about saving a golf course. It’s about not losing green space and not overdoing density.”

Heartland Crossing Golf Course opened in 1998 and was designed by Steve Smyers, a renowned golf course architect who also designed the former Wolf Run Golf Club in Zionsville. Developers attempted to convert the golf course into residential development in 2017, but the City of Zionsville rejected the project, choosing to preserve the open space that would later become the Carpenter Nature Preserve.

In recent years, numerous developers have inquired about the golf course, said owner Ron Overton, 72, who bought The Links in 2018 during his retirement. None of the developers’ plans have come together enough to be presented to the commission, which votes on rezoning. Overton told IndyStar he would consider selling if a developer received planning commission approval to develop.

Alysa Guffey is a business reporter covering growth and development for IndyStar. You can reach her at [email protected] or X: @AlysaGuffeyNews.

This article was originally published on Golfweek: Beloved Indiana Golf Course Saved From Developers — For Now