Pro disc golfer Finlay Buchanan-Jacobs and Saddlehill winery owner Bill Green at their meeting this week.
A truce has been declared between users of the Stafford Woods Disc Golf course in Voorhees and the neighboring Saddlehill winery.
Some disc golf leaders, including golf pro Finlay Buchanan-Jacobs, of Mount Laurel, visited the winery on White Horse and Evesham roads on Thursday, and on Friday winery owner Bill Green toured the golf course in the Voorhees Township park just over his fence.
Green had filed a police complaint earlier in the year about a hole in his fence and he also contacted the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which has oversight of the park because state open space funds were used.
The DEP later ruled that part of the 11-year-old golf course — said to be the top disc golf course in New Jersey — needs to be dismantled because some of it is on the parcel of property covered by a state financing program that permits only passive recreation, a definition in the property's deed that does not include disc golf.
That ruling sparked a public outcry from the disc golf community and anger directed at Saddlehill.
Buchanan-Jacobs sent a letter to state and local government officials to let them know of the Thursday meeting of the two parties.
"After some discussion and clarification, it soon became clear that our interests were aligned, and both parties have a desire to save the Stafford Woods Disc Golf Course," he wrote. "We are hopeful that by working together to overcome our differences, we can ensure a prosperous future in which disc golf at Stafford Woods and Saddlehill winery both continue to thrive for many generations to come."
The state has not commented publicly. However, elected officials in Voorhees Township, which last week announced it would take down the course, on Thursday announced they had asked the state to consider a solution to keep the course open.
"It's a beautiful course," Green said after his tour on Friday. He said the goal now is to convince the DEP that disc golf should be considered passive recreation and kept in Stafford Woods Park.
Green said the park itself has great potential for other uses as well by the community.Â
PREVIOUS 70AND73.COM COVERAGE
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In a joint statement, the golf group and the winery stated that, at the Thursday meeting, "it became clear that the mutual resentments that had built up over time could have been avoided by meeting together earlier, and so going forward, clear lines of communication have been established."
"Both groups consider any past disputes to be hereby resolved, withdraw or recant any negative remarks made about one another, and agree to not attack each other's interests, either business or recreational, in the future," according to the statement.
The Voorhees Township Stafford Woods Park is in yellow. The top part, holding part of the disc golf course, is restricted by deed from non-passive recreation. The bottom part, Green Acres, is not. Saddlehill property is to the left. This aerial was from 2020, before Saddlehill owned the land.
