After three plus years of complex negotiations, Stony Point Supervisor Jim Monaghan and the Town Board approved an agreement to sell the Patriot Hills Golf Club and surrounding Letchworth Village property to Patriot Hills Park, LLC for $6.4 million. Patriot Hills Park, LLC is owned by developer Raja R. Amar, along with two business partners, Brion Hayman, a Stony Point resident and longtime business partner Lawrence D. Melchionda.
Mr. Amar, a longtime resident of Stony Point, is committed to moving Stony Point forward and wants to preserve it for future generations to live, work, and raise their families.
Under the sale, Mr. Amar will invest in and upgrade the golf course, keeping it open to all Stony Point residents and their guests, including providing free rounds for active riding Stony Point Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Members.
In addition, he will construct a brand new community center for the Town of Stony Point and renovate Kirkbride Hall, leasing it back to the Town for $1 a year for sports and community events.
Finally, Mr. Amar will remediate and remove the old Letchworth buildings, cleaning up the hazardous waste and asbestos that has plagued the property for years.
Voters in Stony Point can ratify the agreement by voting YES on proposition 7 on the back of their ballot.
There are three ways to vote: by absentee ballot, during Early Voting (October 23-31, 2021), or on Election Day (November 2, 2021).
Terms of the Agreement
$6.4 MILLION AT CLOSING
- $3 MILLION CASH
- $3.4 MILLION PERFORMANCE BOND FOR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF NEW STONY POINT COMMUNITY CENTER
$6 MILLION IN COSTS ELIMINATED FOR REMEDIATION AND REMOVAL OF OLD LETCHWORTH BUILDINGS, WHICH HAVE POSED A HAZARDOUS HEALTH RISK TO RESIDENTS FOR DECADES
RENOVATION OF KIRKBRIDE HALL FOR STONY POINT RECREATIONAL USE
GOLF COURSE WILL REMAIN OPEN TO RESIDENTS AND THEIR GUESTS
FREE ROUNDS FOR ACTIVE RIDING STONY POINT VOLUNTEER FIRE & AMBULANCE MEMBERS
Savings for Taxpayers
$6.6 MILLION IN SAVINGS FOR GOLF COURSE OPERATIONS AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS OVER 5 YEARS
$800K + IN SAVINGS FOR MAINTENANCE OF LETCHWORTH BUILDINGS OVER 5 YEARS
$6 MILLION IN COSTS ELIMINATED FOR REMEDIATION AND REMOVAL OF OLD LETCHWORTH BUILDINGS
SALE INCLUDES RENOVATION OF KIRKBRIDE HALL FOR TOWN RECREATIONAL USE
Above is a rendering of the new Stony Point Community Center, which will be built by Raja Amar for use by our seniors, Stony Point residents, and the Town of Stony Point.
Fact vs. Fiction
Partisan and special interest groups have consistently put out false information to manipulate you as a taxpayer of Stony Point to vote against the sale of the golf course. Here are the facts:
Fiction: If the sale goes through, Raja Amar will immediately sell the property.
FACT: Raja Amar is a longtime Stony Point resident and is fully committed to preserving Stony Point for future generations — he will NOT sell the property.
A successful businessman, Mr. Amar will upgrade the golf course, revitalize the property for the use of Stony Point residents, build a new Community Center for our seniors, and alleviate the tax burden on residents.
Fiction: The sale of the golf course will lead to the development of high-density housing.
FACT: Patriot Hills Golf Club will continue to operate and will be open for all town residents and their guests. A new Community Center will be built for our seniors and Kirkbride Hall will be renovated for town recreational use.
The Town Board will continue to control ALL zoning and land use decisions and any future development projects would need to be approved by the town and land use boards. Furthermore, under the existing Town Code, high-density housing cannot be built on the golf course, as the zoning laws require 5-acre parcels. In addition, over 25 years ago, the Town Board passed a law that prohibited development on land that is more than 25% sloped.
Fiction: The sale of the golf course will leave Stony Point without an annual revenue stream.
FACT: Since 2007, Stony Point taxpayers have subsidized Patriot Hills Golf Club by over $16 million. If the sale does not go through, Stony Point taxpayers will have to spend at least $6.6 million over the next 5 years on course operations and capital improvements, as well as over $800,000 in maintenance for the surrounding Letchworth buildings.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Town would receive $6.4 million at closing and the buyer would be responsible for over $6 million in remediation of the hazardous Letchworth buildings. Moving forward, most of the property would come back onto the tax rolls, providing an annual revenue stream.
Fiction: The golf course is profitable.
FACT: As per the towns Independent Auditors, trusted town officials and golf professionals it has been concluded the golf course has and continues to lose money annually. Furthermore, over the last decade, the number of rounds played and residential ID cards purchased has declined. The golf course is not viable to be sustainable long term without significant upgrades that would come from homeowners tax dollars if the town were to continue to run it.
About Raja R. Amar
Raja R. Amar is an Indian-American businessman and developer. Since May 1999, he has served as CEO, President, and Founder of Portables Unlimited, Inc., a telecommunications company located in Nanuet, NY. Since its founding, Portables Unlimited, Inc., has become the largest wholesale distributor and direct retailer in the United States for T-Mobile.
Raja and his wife Manju and their children Victor, Nicholas, and Christopher, all graduates of North Rockland High School, have lived in Stony Point for over 20 years.
