County taking over former Amherst country club for park, golf course
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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Erie County is taking over the former Westwood Country Club in Amherst and turning it into a nine-hole golf course and park, county executive Mark Poloncarz said Wednesday.
The park will be called Willowdale Park. It will restore nine holes of the former Westwood Country Club, seven of which are original to the site. The remainder will be turned into a park with walking trails, wildlife and waterfowl viewing areas, and a small inclusive playground.
"We feel confident that the vast majority of the residents in the Town of Amherst and those in Erie County will support this," Poloncarz said at a Wednesday news conference.
The Westwood Country Club closed in 2014. Amherst bought the 171-acre property in April 2023 for $7.8 million, some $5 million more than what Mensch Capital, an investment firm, paid for the property about a decade prior. Initial plans included a splash pad, playground, ice rink and a community theater on the space, but the plans for the theater were scrapped last year after public outcry about the $11 million cost.
The space is bordered by Sheridan Drive to the south, North Forest Road to the east, Maple Road to the north and Fairways Boulevard to the west. The county will provide funds of $6.7 million for Willowdale.
There will not be significant development in the area, which area residents were opposed to.
"There's a lot of different people who have different recreational activities in mind when you say the word park," Amherst town supervisor Brian Kulpa said. "We've always said we wanted this to be passive, we wanted it to be inclusive, we wanted it to be open, we wanted it to be something everybody can use."
The park and golf course are set to open to the public in 2026. It will join Grover Cleveland Golf Course in north Buffalo and Elma Meadows Golf Course in Elma as a third county-owned course.
Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.