Owner of White Squirrel Golf Club in Bluewater Planning Significant Upgrades

by Bob Montgomery

The owner of the White Squirrel Golf Club in Bluewater presented his plans for the golf course at Monday night's Bluewater Council meeting.

Mac Voisin, the former owner of M&M Meats bought the golf course a few years ago and has already made significant improvements. What triggered the renovation that he's proposing now is the lack of affordable housing in the area. The lack of housing has made it difficult for him to find staff, but he says that's also made it difficult for the entire community, so they assembled a team and met with municipal staff from Bluewater to try and address the shortage of affordable housing. Voisin says they looked for land in Bayfield, Hensall and Zurich without success and then Bluewater CAO Laurie Spence Bannerman suggested they look at residential buildings on the golf course. Voisin was shocked and delighted with the suggestion.

They are now looking at a condominium tower with condos along the first fairway, bringing doctors in to staff a wellness centre that would include chiropractic services, physio therapy, and a spa as well as a recreation centre with a variety of activities. He says they'll have a small grocery store there as well. Voisin says they have the space, 26-hundred feet of frontage and a total of 231 acres but they will have to make some adjustments, possibly moving the driving range. He says phase one will involve moving the kitchen closer to the patio, have a bigger pro shop, some offices and an event centre for things like weddings. He says they're also looking at affordable housing above that but it's not zoned for that at this time so they're hoping to get that re-zoned.

Voisin says phases two, three and four will involve designing for thirty or forty condos along the first fairway and the wellness centre will be across from the condos. Behind them there will be two five story apartments that will have sixty to ninety units, include affordable housing, and there will be another condominium beside that. Voisin says they're also building it in such a way that they can continue to grow as the community does and the need for more housing grows.

Voisin says they hope to start construction in about fourteen months.