Owner of defunct Hempfield golf course to shutter restaurant

The owner of a defunct Hempfield golf course and its associated restaurant will drop his efforts to divide and rezone part of the property, choosing instead to close the restaurant and put the entire property on the market.

Mark Allison wanted to subdivide about 20 acres from the former Scenic Links of Westmoreland golf course, which closed last year, and re-zone it for commercial use. The proposed parcel included Birdies Pub and Grille, a restaurant that originally served the golf course but remained open after the course closed.

In a message announcing his plan to close the restaurant that was posted on Facebook and emailed to the Birdies mailing list, Allison called the rezoning concept potentially protracted and costly.

“... I kept searching for a reasonable and viable reason why I should undertake such an approach,” Allison wrote.

The land is zoned for agriculture, with the golf course and restaurant considered conditional and accessory uses, respectively. The township sent Allison notice he was in violation of his zoning this summer because the restaurant was approved as an accessory to the golf course, which was no longer operating, township manager Andrew Walz said.

Attorney Daniel Hewitt, who represented neighbors opposed to the proposed rezoning, declined to comment.

Allison could not be reached but said in his announcement that Birdies had struggled to reach profitability, and would close for good after the end of business Dec. 18.

The golf course closed in October 2015, less than a year after Allison acquired it for $1.35 million. It had originally opened in the mid-1990s as the Cherry Creek Golf Course and was surrounded by residential properties.

Allison pointed to the Nov. 1 sale of about 90 acres of the former Rolling Hills Country Club in Peters, Washington County, as a good sign for the sale of Scenic Links, although in that case the buyers were the township and school district seeking more land for recreation and operations.

Matthew Santoni is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724 836 6660 or msantoni@tribweb.com.