COUNTY — For the second month in a row, representatives from the men’s association at the Ash Brook Golf Course approached the Union County Board of County Commissioners to demand more governmental transparency and to ask that more attention be paid to the Scotch Plains property.
“We have been here to discuss the problems at the course before,” said Westfield resident Bob Kasko, speaking during a regular meeting of the Commissioner board last week. “We didn’t necessarily expect anything to happen over the course of three or four weeks, but we haven’t received any answers to any of the emails that we’ve sent and it’s starting to feel like we’re being stonewalled.”
Golfers like Mr. Kasko have often reported “unplayable” conditions at the county-owned course, citing flooding, poor irrigation and improper fairway maintenance among their chief concerns.
“We were told that 2024 would be a better year than 2023, but we haven’t seen any evidence of that yet,” said Fran Wilson, a Roselle Park resident and the former director of public works for the township of Teaneck. “I worked in government, so I get that these things take time, but these are not new problems. This has all been going on for at least four or five years, and it’s getting very frustrating.”
In 2019, the Commission (then the Freeholder board) opened a new, $9million clubhouse (which includes a restaurant, a retail pro shop, administrative offices, public restrooms and an underground golf-cart storage facility) at the Ash Brook course.
The course itself, meanwhile, underwent significant renovations in the mid-2010s, when it was redesigned by architect Rees Jones in an effort to address drainage issues, landscaping shortfalls and layout challenges.
Since then, Mr. Kasko said, the course, which has been managed under the direction of KemperSports since 2010, has once again fallen into disrepair.
“We’re right back where we started,” he said, adding that the new clubhouse also has fallen short of expectations. “You guys spent all of this money to build that restaurant monstrosity, but it was a waste.
Nobody uses it. Meanwhile, we’re all out playing on other courses because the conditions at Ash Brook are so bad.”
Ricardo Matias, the county’s engineer, said the county is “well aware” of the issues at the course and currently is working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to try to find the best way forward.
“Not to get too technical, but there was an emergency work permit that was issued through the DEP, and we are currently trying to get some additional clean-up work done under that authority,” he said. “I can guarantee you that we are pushing for this, and we are actively working on it.”
