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County Legislature postpones vote on appraising two Cherry Creek golf courses

The Suffolk County Legislature postponed a vote authorizing an appraisal for the two Cherry Creek golf courses at its meeting Tuesday. The issue is expected to come up for a vote at the legislature’s March 17 meeting. 

“We need to work out a plan with the Town of Riverhead for management, because they are going to be our partners,” said Legislator Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue), who called for tabling the resolution until the March meeting.

“It’s 300 acres, it’s a big plan, and there might be other groups interested in doing some of the management of the site,” he said. “Nothing has been worked out yet. This is going to be a long process.”

The appraisal would be the first step needed before any possible purchase of the land is possible.

The Cherry Creek golf course is 166 acres and the Woods at Cherry Creek is 128 acres. A real estate listing on LoopNet, an website with commercial property listings, put the sales price of the two courses together at $25 million.

Vincent Sasso and Charles Jurgens are the owners of the golf courses, and Mr. Sasso said they are 80 and 95 years old respectively, which is why they want to sell the courses. 

The county’s plan is to acquire the properties as open space and let them revert back to their undeveloped state. The county also has discussed keeping one or more of the two buildings on the sites.