A plan to sell the Atlantic Country Club for housing has some neighbors teed off.
The McSharry family, which has owned the South Plymouth golf course on Little Sandy Pond Road for decades, last week signed a $20 million purchase and sales agreement with developers.
The buyers told the Independent that they see enormous potential in the 188-acre site.
“We were presented with an opportunity to acquire 190 acres of land in Southeastern Mass. and we felt that was too good an opportunity to pass up,” said Ben Virga, of Duxbury, who has partnered with Robert McGeHee of Newton to develop the property.
“As you’re well aware, we’re in the midst of a serious housing crisis,” said Virga, a developer who founded a real estate brokerage company, and co-owns a marijuana shop in Marshfield. “There’s a lot of different options on the table. The land will dictate what’s available and what’s not.”
Virga said the partners haven’t yet come up with a plan but are working on “what will fit best on the site.”
He wouldn’t say how many homes might be built on the site.
“We’ve very excited to see what opportunities are there,” Virga said. “It’s a great site, with beautiful land. I love the course. I’ve played there many times.”
A potentially complicating factor is that under state law, the property is classified as recreation land — a designation that provided the owners with large property tax breaks— more than $120,000 over the past five years alone, according to town assessing data.
But also under that law, Chapter 61B, property owners who want to sell or change the use of the land must first give the town a chance to match any offer — in this case, $20 million.
Plymouth officials, who may want to preserve the land or protect it from uses they considerable undesirable, discussed the proposed sale and its implications for the town in executive session Tuesday.
When members returned to open session, town manager Derek Brindisi detailed the proposal, but the board did not discuss the plan.
The town has 120 days — until sometime in August — to decide whether to exercise its option to buy the land.
In an emailed statement, Brindisi said the town “is actively examining the notice of intent to sell before determining whether the Select Board should exercise its 120-day right of first refusal.”
If the town decides not to buy the property, the new owners will face other challenges.
Under the zoning laws for that part of South Plymouth, house lots must be large — almost three acres.
That would permit a developer to build only about 60 houses on the property.
But the developer could opt for a 40B designation — meaning an affordable housing project that could be much larger and subject to little regulation by the town. Such projects are required to designate at least 25 percent of their units as “affordable.” In return, they can bypass local zoning and other laws.
Neighbors expressed concerns online and to the Independent, saying that 40B project may end up replacing the golf club. They worry that hundreds of housing units could be built on the land, changing the character of the area and putting a strain on town services.
Some club members wondered whether a sale was in the works when they received their annual membership form for the 2025 season. There was a disclaimer on the form that they hadn’t seen before.
“Atlantic Country Club reserves the right to terminate this membership at any time during the 2025 golf season at its sole discretion,” it read. “In the event of such termination, the member shall be entitled to a prorated refund of the member’s payment.”
The country club owners have tried before to build housing on the site, obtaining town permits in 2021 to build the “Residences at Atlantic Country Club.”
The owners were approved for 60 single- and two-family homes to be built on site of the driving range. Six units would have been categorized as affordable, according to town records.
It is unclear why the owners did not follow through with the plan.
Owner Mark McSharry did not respond to a request for comment.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.