PENFIELD N.Y. — It's been a long road for the former Shadow Pines and Shadow Lake Properties in the town of Penfield which includes a 2016 moratorium on development.

“We have been in negotiations with a seller,” said Penfield Town Supervisor Tony LaFountain (R) at Wednesday night's town board meeting.

Penfield officials and Dolomite/Oldcastle announced a $3.65 million purchase and sales agreement for the town to buy Shadow Pines Golf Club.

“We were able to come to terms (late Wednesday) and this gives us an opportunity to sign off on that purchase amd sales agreement which we have done before the board this evening," LaFountain said.

Councilmembers voted to authorize LaFountain to execute a real estate purchase agreement for the Shadow Pines property, Wednesday night.

According to town officials, the golf club is said to have been in operation between 30-40 years.

With that time up and gone, residents are now faced with voting on two propositions: One would be to assist financing the 206-acre golf course, and another to finance the purchase of six additional acres along with the Clark House buildings.

Still, concerns rise among some neighbors.

“I think there’s other ways the town could have handled this, we just want the right to vote, which is why we’re all here so we can have the opportunities to look into the facts and come to our conclusions,” said Penfield resident Jim Mathers.

For those other concerned residents, they will get an opportunity to have a final say at the Penfield Community Center on Baird Road.

“On February 27th there will be a vote — straight up or down for the town to buy the property. This purchase and sells agreement paves the way to move forward with that vote,” LaFountain said.

If the propositions are approved, the Town Board will explore future land uses such as a combination of open space and developing passive and active recreational uses.

“It’s going to help people save money because the property taxes would go up if it would have been developed for housing and this way people will be saving a lot of money. It’s only going to cost $11 a year for an average property tax payer,” said Jeff Burns, Save Shadow Pines co-founder.

Click here for more details and background information on the project; residents are encouraged to visit the projects page.