Munson Township Board of Zoning Appeals denied an application for a use variance to turn the abandoned pro shop on Berkshire Hills Golf Course into administrative offices following several neighbors’ testimony opposing the plan.
Munson Township Board of Zoning Appeals denied an application for a use variance to turn the abandoned pro shop on Berkshire Hills Golf Course into administrative offices following several neighbors’ testimony opposing the plan.
A crowd of about 50 residents and officials attended the hearing Aug. 18 about a building on the defunct golf course owned by Bernard Vukovic, of 2015 Berkshire Hills LLC.
Cleveland attorney Robert Zimmerman, representing Vukovic, who lives in Canada, spoke first during the hearing.
“We are well aware this property is not zoned for business,” Zimmerman said, adding they also know a use variance is the most difficult sort of variance to get because the applicant has to prove economic hardship will occur if the variance is not granted.
Vukovic told the board he is relocating part of his business from Canada to Munson Township and has prepared land on Mayfield Road just west of state Route 44 for a building.
Until offices there are available in a year or more, Vukovic and his three-person team need office space and a staging area, purposes the pro shop would serve, Zimmerman said.
Such use would bring the building back into productive use, he said.
It supported the golf course, which is no longer there, and it would not generate much traffic or be a drain on township services, Zimmerman said.
“There is no other economically viable use for the pro shop,” he said, noting it is not a building that could be turned into a residence.
Vukovic said he has a team handling his business in Canada and is in the process of moving to Geauga County.
“I came here to slow down a little bit in my life,” he said.
He originally bought Pine View Lake and was approached to buy the golf course, which he did.
“I truly fell in love with that property,” he said, adding he wants to raise his family there.
“I need a place where I can work.”
He said he plans to be a good neighbor.
“You won’t hear us. You won’t see us,” he said.
Since he purchased the course in January 2018, he has been offered up to four times what he paid for it, Vukovic said, adding that is proof of his good intentions of keeping the property as it is.
“Thank God I’m successful enough I don’t need the money,” he said.
The course, consisting of at least six parcels, was bought by 2015 Berkshire Hills LLC in 2018, which was filed as an Ohio Domestic Limited-Liability Company on Oct.12, 2015, in Cincinnati, according to online sources.
The Geauga County Auditor’s Office website shows besides the 147 acres on which the pro shop exists, the golf course includes 11 acres with access on Heath Road, 60 landlocked acres of greens, 10 acres and 20.8 acres both with access off Rockhaven Road and 25.7 acres with frontage on Mayfield Road.
Vukovic and his family will be living in the manor house on 1.6 acres in the middle of the 147-acre parcel, he said.
The golf course is zoned for single family residential and was operating under a temporary use permit as a golf course until Vukovic bought it and allowed the permit to lapse.
Before the applicant spoke, BZA president Dennis Pilawa said use of the pro shop for offices would violate the township zoning resolution.
“An administrative business office is not a permitted principle use,” Pilawa said, adding it is difficult to obtain a use variance because the standards are so high.
Zimmerman said the application was narrowly constructed to only include the pro shop structure, not the rest of the parcel.
A use variance goes with the property, no matter who owns it, once it is granted.
Pilawa acknowledged Vukovic’s intentions to keep the property as a home, but questioned the intentions of future generations.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 43 years as a lawyer: things change,” he said, adding the next person to own the property might not have the same intentions as Vukovic does.
He also invited visitors to speak so neighbors’ objections to the use variance would be part of the official record.
Vukovic has the right to appeal the decision to the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, Pilawa said.
“If you have something to say, you should say it tonight. Otherwise, you might not get an opportunity to say it,” he told the audience.
Several residents asked to be recognized. Two read affidavits into the record pointing out how the application does not meet the standards for a variance under the law.
“It has been established there is no hardship unique to the property,” Pilawa said.
Also, zoning is not denying the property owner his rights, there is evidence the property can be used in an economically viable manner without a variance, the owner knew of the limitations when he bought the property and adjoining property owners believe they would be harmed if the variance was granted, he said.
Pilawa made the motion to deny the application and the other four members voted “yes” to deny.
