Whaling City Golf Course gets $100K grant

February 20, 2018 : SouthCoast Today, by Michael Bonner

NEW BEDFORD — The Whaling City Golf Course has received a $100,000 grant, state Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral announced Tuesday.

The Site Readiness Program Grant is related to the course’s project associated with MassDevelopment. The funds will go to complete the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency permitting and a American Land Title Association survey.

“The permitting process for these types of economic development projects is where all of the complexities are discussed and fleshed out. And that’s where this Site Readiness Grant comes into play,” Cabral said in a statement. “This grant will help the city prepare for this development opportunity so that all concerns are properly addressed.”

In May, Mayor Jon Mitchell announced potential plans to utilize a portion of the Whaling City Golf Course for a 100-acre business park with a 1.3 million-square-foot commercial site that could produce $2 million annually in property tax.

The proposed plans also included preserving nine holes of the golf course.

At about the same time, the project received $300,000 in Site Readiness Program funds.

Jay Ash, the state’s Housing and Economic Development secretary, raved about the property when he toured it in June.

“I’m not aware of anything this south and attached to a city,” Ash said previously. “We’re seeing a great deal of investments come back to cities. New Bedford has benefited from that.”

The city also used the area in its pitch to attract Amazon.

Among all the moving parts within the last year, the course will be run under new management in 2018. Johnson Golf Management opted out of its contract with the city in September.

According to the City Council’s agenda on Thursday, the city has identified a replacement. Mitchell has asked the council to authorize W/S Golf Management of Marion as the course’s new operational and management firm.