Bob Dovichak has lived in a condo on the Echo Farms Golf Course for more than 30 years.

He’s a member of the residents group that has asked the city of Wilmington to rezone the golf course property from a category that allows apartments to a lower-density designation, in hopes of halting a potential redevelopment plan.

For Dovichak and other Echo Farms property owners, the ideal outcome would be for the golf course, which involves about 140 acres owned by Matrix Development Group, to remain the same.

“If Matrix doesn’t want it, I would like to see them sell it to somebody else who could operate it as a golf course,” Dovichak said.

It’s a conflict that has been experienced in golf course communities in the Cape Fear region and beyond, pitting homeowners against developers and, in some cases, tying up potential redevelopment projects for several years.

Matrix has not weighed in on the rezoning request, except to say, through a spokesman, “As property owners in Wilmington, we are currently evaluating our legal options.”

The company also did not have a comment on potential redevelopment plans for the land.

Residents began focusing on the issue because of discussions between the city and an engineering firm regarding a traffic impact analysis for a potential neighborhood that would be built on the golf course, called The Woodlands at Echo Farms in site plans.

According to the traffic impact documents, the redevelopment could include a mix of housing types: single-family homes, townhomes and hundreds of apartments.

Because of the property’s current by-right zoning, the Wilmington City Council would not be involved in a site plan review for a redevelopment at this point, according to an October release from the city.

Mayor Bill Saffo called the Echo Farms property “an example of the struggles we face as our city continues to grow.”

Developable land is dwindling as more people move to the city. Meanwhile, there are more than 800 fewer golf courses today than there were 10 years ago, according to a National Golf Foundation report, although the report also points out that golf courses were being overbuilt in the years leading up to 2006.

Mike Pollak, who is the developer of Muirfield Townes at Echo Farms, is currently redeveloping a golf course in the region. Topsail Greens in Pender County had been in business for more than 40 years “before the reality of the golf industry caught up with it. Like many courses, it became distressed, ultimately foreclosed upon and put up for sale,” Pollak said.

Pollak’s company bought the course in 2012.

“We didn’t purchase lush fairways and manicured greens, but rather overgrown weeds surrounded by a community of worried neighbors as to the uncertainty of the property’s future,” Pollak said. “We immediately began working with Pender County to design a community in a way that was consistent with the existing Planned Development zoning already entitled to the property.”

Communication was critical, he said.

“We invited all the neighbors to see our plans. We listened and continued to be sensitive to their concerns, gaining their trust and support,” Pollak said. “While redevelopment was inevitable, in this case, fear of the unknown was not part of the transition.”

He said now the neighborhood his company created, WyndWater, “is a thriving residential development, bringing value to all that it surrounds.”

But, Pollak said, the Echo Farms golf course is a different situation.

“This privately owned course has been in business for over 40 years and is still in active play. Rumors continue to circulate that the course is being considered for redevelopment. It may or may not be something that will begin sooner rather than later. Only the ownership knows their plans, but their lack of communication is creating outrage in the community,” Pollak wrote in an email.

He said if changes are in the works for the Echo Farms Golf Course, it doesn’t mean they will have a negative effect on the community.

“There are procedures to be followed when a property is brought to the city for redevelopment. In my years of developing real estate, I have had to work within protections in the ordinances for adjoining properties by adhering to buffer and setback requirements,” Pollak said.

He said in the email that as an adjoining developer to the Echo Farms course, he also believes the course’s current owners owe the Echo Farms community “communication as to their plans and stop the rumors. There are incredible things happening in the community, and this proposed change, if in fact it is coming, has the opportunity to be added to the list of wonderful things happening to this side of Wilmington – the New Hanover Regional [Medical Center] growth plan, The Pointe at Barclay, the retail development that will include a theater, restaurants and retail – the addition of many grocers and the major road improvements.”

Pollak said that growth could also mean more members for the Echo Farms Golf & Country Club.

“I want to believe with the new development happening in the area, the course could grow memberships and be profitable for many years to come. It’s a wonderful asset to this side of town,” he said.

The date when the city’s planning commission might consider the rezoning request for the course, submitted by attorney Matt Nichols on behalf of the Echo Farms Residents Association Inc., had not yet been determined as of press time.

The request could face an uphill battle.

“Rezoning a tract of land against the landowner’s will is extremely rare in North Carolina,” local attorney Hal Kitchin of McGuireWoods, who is not involved in the request, recently said.

City officials have been reviewing the request in an effort to determine any potential legal or financial impacts to the city.

“While there are several ways a property within the city can be rezoned, a request that is not submitted by the property owner is unusual,” Wilmington officials said in a news release.

Kitchin said state law “does not have a blanket prohibition, which prevents cities or counties rezoning a property over the property owner’s objection. Whether or not it is good policy is a separate question, but state law generally leaves that decision to each local government’s own zoning rules.”

He said the issue tends to arise more frequently in rural counties where government officials are enacting zoning districts for the first time.

Henry Winters, treasurer of the Echo Farms Residents Association, said, “We really want to work with the city and the planning department on this matter. We’re not against development per se in the city, but we certainly want to protect our golf course.”

Saffo said the city wants to promote positive growth.

“The Echo Farms group requesting this rezoning clearly cares about our growing city, and they are to be commended for that,” the mayor said. “At the same time, we must continue to look overall at the rights of individual property owners and also look at any precedent that could be made depending of what types of decisions the city could make – not only on the Echo Farms property – but other potential properties.”