[UPDATE, May 19: Tallgrass will remain open through the summer of 2016, according to Newsday's Mark Herrmann.]
SEE LATEST POSTS:
Supporters, opponents of Tallgrass solar development state their case to Brookhaven Planning Board (1/26/2016)
Tallgrass offering 2016 tee-time memberships as threat of solar development lingers (12/18/2015)
A Newsday article concerning the future of Long Island energy sources briefly touched on the proposed Invenergy solar farm, also known as Shoreham Solar Commons, which would be built on what is now the Tallgrass Golf Course.
Newsday's Mark Harrington wrote in a September 6 piece that construction could begin next April if the solar farm is approved by the Town of Brookhaven. It is believed that a sale of the golf-course property to Invenergy is in place if the solar plan is approved.
"At the Tallgrass Golf Course, which is scheduled to become a separate 127-acre solar array farm, developer Invenergy recently filed a land-use application saying the project will employ about 200 people during its yearlong construction. Business development manager Brad Pnazek said he anticipates tax payments to be $800,000 to $900,000 a year. Current owner DeLalio Sod Farms pays just over $78,000 in taxes." — Mark Harrington, Newsday, 9/6/2015
Invenergy submitted a 139-page report to the Town of Brookhaven Planning Board earlier this summer. Plans for the Tallgrass site center around a 110,000-panel solar farm, with the current clubhouse potentially used as a community center and the cart path repurposed as a multi-use recreational trail.
If the plan is approved, Tallgrass would be the third public golf course lost in eastern Suffolk in the past three years. Long Island National was purchased and converted to a private club in 2013. Calverton Links, also discussed as a solar-energy site, closed in 2013 as well.
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