Lackawanna County Commissioner Thom Welby defended the idea of the county buying former golf course land and trying to get federal money to do it on Wednesday.
Welby acknowledged he added the request for $4 million to buy the former Scranton Municipal Golf Course in Jefferson Twp. to a list asking U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan for federal community project funding.
Welby said his decision was not unusual. Either of the other commissioners could have suggested projects for the list, too, he said.
He also said the county could earn a profit from a revived golf course, though a golf course might not fit federal criteria for the funding.
“Why wouldn't we do something, an investment, finally, that's going to make money for the county?” he said. “But I did it clearly, in retrospect, I did it too hastily. I maybe shouldn't have done it at all, but I just saw an opportunity for us to look at a project that's going to make money instead of costing money.”
Gaughan, Chermak respond
Gaughan said Wednesday he couldn’t have suggested community projects because no one told him the county was planning to apply.
“Nobody informed us,” he said.
Chermak said he had no problem with Welby authorizing the application on his own.
“You’ve got to remember Tom, ... he was a state rep, so this was on his radar, to look for grants, because that's what he does,” Chermak said. “As far as you know, do I have a problem with it? Not really. If we get the grant, then we'll have to figure out what are we going to do?”
Congressional committees dole out the money for community projects to individual congressmen to distribute annually. Funding is generally limited to governments and non-profit organizations.
Other projects on the county’s request list include $20 million for Montage Mountain transportation improvements; $2 million for a regional computer forensic crime laboratory sponsored by the county district attorney’s office; and almost $2.2 million for a new emergency management support center and mobile command vehicle.
Golf course history
The golf course closed in 2020 after almost 60 years in business.
A 2024 county-funded, 75-page study suggests a revived, publicly owned golf course could eventually earn profits of more than $458,000 a year.
The study by StoneCreek Partners, a national consulting firm, assumes the money to buy the land comes from government sources.
Welby said county chief financial officer David Bulzoni estimated a golf course could turn a profit of $200,000 to $400,000 a year. In an email Wednesday, Bulzoni said the golf course produced that much in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Finding the money
In the application to Bresnahan’s office, the county asks for $4 million in federal money and assumes the state and county would kick in another $2 million each.
The application assumes the county would preserve most of the 176.7 acres as open space with the future potential for 125 townhouses.
The application says nothing about a golf course. It says about 160 acres would be preserved “permanently preserved as public recreational land while maintaining access for outdoor recreation, including walking, hiking, passive recreation and community activities.”
“Protecting this site will preserve natural landscapes, support environmental stewardship and ensure long-term public access to outdoor recreation for residents throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania,” the application says.
Welby said he discussed which projects to include on the list with a county community development official.
The official told him the congressman’s office is “looking more towards projects that have a more regional or multiple-county participation,” he said. That probably rules out a golf course, he said. Hannah Pope, a spokesperson for Bresnahan, provided a list of eligibility criteria for the grants. The criteria include a project’s ability to “deliver broad community or regional benefits.”
Marty Flynn's role
Gaughan said he thinks Welby included the golf course purchase on the list because he once worked for state Sen. Marty Flynn, who advocates a revived publicly owned golf course.
“He wanted a golf course, wanted the county to create an authority to run the golf course, and so I don't think it's coincidental now that Commissioner Welby would put that in, having worked with Sen. Flynn,” Gaughan said.
Told what Gaughan said, Welby pointed to what Bulzoni said about the potential profit.
“Quite frankly, I’m not caught up with crap like that,” he said of Gaughan’s comment on the Flynn connection.
Last week, Gaughan said Flynn approached him and former Commissioner Matt McGloin about buying and reviving the golf course in 2023 and 2024, but they declined because the county faced a $37 million deficit entering 2025 and couldn’t afford to spend money.
“I happen to think it's a bad idea, and that's my stance on it. I don't know where we would get the $2 million from,” Gaughan said Wednesday. “We need to make sure we get through this year and that we continue forward on the path of financial stability. Going off and buying a former golf course is just a crazy idea that I don't think has any merit at this point.”
SMGC Realty LP, at least partly owned by Louis and Dominick DeNaples, owns the land and bought it for more than $3.4 million in 2003 from the city of Scranton. The city's municipal recreation authority had run the course.
Flynn said last week he thought the commissioners had abandoned the idea but was pleased about its potential revival.
Flynn said he inserted $2 million into the state budget a few years ago to cover the state share, but that money is no longer allocated because the deal faltered. He said a South Korean company whose name he could not remember was interested in operating the course.
