TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — City of Tallahassee commissioners voted Wednesday to pursue a second appraisal of land at the Capital City Country Club as the club's private owners looks toward owning it.
- The country club appraised the land at $1.15 million.
- The club wants to own the land to make improvements to its infrastructure and attract investors and more members.
- Watch the video to see why some neighbors are against a potential sale.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The City of Tallahassee is moving forward with a second appraisal of Capital City Country Club land as talks continue about possibly selling it.
“Essentially what I said last night was that they were sold in life and now we're proposing to sell them in death and that I’m adamantly opposed to,” Hollinger said.
But the idea isn’t sitting well with neighbors like local Historian Delaitre Hollinger.
Unmarked graves of slaves were discovered in 2019 by the National Park Service.
“This particular grave site rests on the Edward Houstoun slave plantation, which dates back to about the 1830s in Tallahassee,” he said.
Since 1953, the club’s private owners have been under a land lease with the City of Tallahassee.
According to a letter the club’s private owners sent to the city, they can barely maintain a daily operating budget after tornado damage last year.
They want to gain ownership of the grounds to pursue investments and fund improvements with a plan to partner with Florida A&M University's golf team after.
They valued the land at $1.15 million.
A number of city leaders, like Commissioner Jeremy Matlow expressed concern about the issue.
“Looking at the highest and best use it’s not the golf course, it’s redevelopment of hundreds of acres, which is valued 10 times, 20 times or more,” Matlow said during a commission meeting Sept. 17.
“The question becomes what is the real value of that land,” Mayor Pro-tem Dianne Williams-Cox said.
Williams-Cox tells ABC 27 she believes there is some value to selling the land, but whether it goes through is dependent on building a commemoration site.
She says that process will continue to be a collaboration between the city and country club management.
“If we’re not able to get that done, that would be a dealbreaker, so we will memorize these individuals who lay in rest, and we will respect them,” she said.
The city is currently looking into a deed restriction, which is a legal binding that can limit how the property can be used.
But there are concerns it can be challenged.
“The only thing that would make me feel comfortable is to have an assurance from the city that they will continue to own and maintain the house and plantation cemetery,” Hollinger said.
Williams-Cox reiterates that nothing has been sold yet, but there isn’t a timeline on when the results of the second appraisal will come back to city commissioners, while concerns remain about protecting and honoring the graves.
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