Open-space commission says Audubon management plan for golf course is moving forward after delays
March 27, 2026 | Town of Southborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts
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Freddie Gillespie, chair of the Open Space Preservation Commission, updated the CPC on a multi-year effort to create an Audubon International–compliant management plan for the town-owned golf course.
Gillespie described the project as a way to reconcile golf operations with conservation goals, citing the conservation restriction placed on the property and the need for an outside management plan. “It’s a project to manage the golf to create a management plan and then manage the golf course in the most ecologically, environmentally beneficial way possible,” she said, describing partners that would include wildlife experts, golf professionals and state agencies.
The commission is preparing an RFP with the town conservation agent; Gillespie said work could start before April if approvals fall into place. The plan will consolidate existing permits and site plans, consider water-testing requirements when construction affects streams that feed the Sudbury Reservoir, and set out operations guidance (water usage, chemical application, pollinator habitat and other ecological elements). A management plan was a requirement in the conservation restriction tied to the original land purchase.
Members asked about costs and long delays: the management-plan warrant article was funded in 2018 ($15,000) and there is a modest annual fee (about $500) that the golf committee is expected to pick up going forward. Gillespie said prior nonpayments were reconciled and the program was reinstated.
The CPC emphasized stronger oversight to avoid multi-year drift: members suggested letters of expectation, sunset clauses and project milestones. The committee asked that the Open Space Preservation Commission and golf-course committee provide quarterly status updates and that staff return with an RFP timeline at the May meeting.
No formal vote was taken; the committee agreed to continue the item and monitor delivery against the conservation restriction.
Gillespie described the project as a way to reconcile golf operations with conservation goals, citing the conservation restriction placed on the property and the need for an outside management plan. “It’s a project to manage the golf to create a management plan and then manage the golf course in the most ecologically, environmentally beneficial way possible,” she said, describing partners that would include wildlife experts, golf professionals and state agencies.
The commission is preparing an RFP with the town conservation agent; Gillespie said work could start before April if approvals fall into place. The plan will consolidate existing permits and site plans, consider water-testing requirements when construction affects streams that feed the Sudbury Reservoir, and set out operations guidance (water usage, chemical application, pollinator habitat and other ecological elements). A management plan was a requirement in the conservation restriction tied to the original land purchase.
Members asked about costs and long delays: the management-plan warrant article was funded in 2018 ($15,000) and there is a modest annual fee (about $500) that the golf committee is expected to pick up going forward. Gillespie said prior nonpayments were reconciled and the program was reinstated.
The CPC emphasized stronger oversight to avoid multi-year drift: members suggested letters of expectation, sunset clauses and project milestones. The committee asked that the Open Space Preservation Commission and golf-course committee provide quarterly status updates and that staff return with an RFP timeline at the May meeting.
No formal vote was taken; the committee agreed to continue the item and monitor delivery against the conservation restriction.
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