PENFIELD, N.Y. — Sprawling across 212 acres, the former golf course of Shadow Pines and the Clark House have now become hot button issues for the registered voters of Penfield. The properties, which includes the "Clark House,” a Penfield landmark, and other buildings, are owned by the Dolomite Group.

Last October, the town of Penfield announced its intentions to purchase the land and buildings for about $3.5 million. This came after residents drafted a petition calling for a public referendum on the town's intent to purchase Shadow Pines golf course from Dolomite-Oldcastle.

"When it went up for sale, there was a developer who was looking at putting up 255 houses here,” said Jeff Burns, from Save Shadow Pines, “and we thought that this should be saved. We see too many places where developers come in and pave over everything and name it after the beautiful things that were there. In this case, we'd like to save Shadow Pines instead of name another housing development after it."

Meanwhile, a group opposing the land purchase says that the acquisition could become expensive. They believe that it could be used for other purposes.

"We have no idea where the cost of this may go in the future. It will be town-owned land, and could become a new community center, a library. Anything could happen to this land,” said Jim Mathers, from Penfield 26,000 Voters Strong. “It's not just going to stay the way it is. There are several other useful uses for this property. It could be a Penfield school bus garage, senior housing was high on the priority list, but fell completely off. There are a lot of other uses for this land."

In order for the referendum to pass, voters have to approve borrowing $3.39 million to buy the golf course and also $260,000 for the Clark House and adjacent buildings. If either fail to pass, the deal is off. The referendum will be held on Tuesday, February 27 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Penfield Community Center.