by Mike Chaiken | The Bristol Edition | July 17, 2026 |
The city’s acquisition of Chippanee Golf Course is still in process, the mayor reported at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The hope is to hold a public meeting about the purchase by the end of the summer.
“My report is not exciting,” Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said as a preface to her update in the City Hall Council Chambers.
“We are starting to finally get back the last of the due diligence reports that we’ve asked for. That includes some financial data. It includes environmental data. It included physical inspection of property and equipment — and just some other information that would be important for us to consider. We are going through that information,” said Zoppo-Sassu.
Additionally, Zoppo-Sassu said, “We have also spent time interviewing third-party management firms that run many of the other municipal golf courses in Connecticut just to gather data. We have our park superintendent reaching out to his colleagues. Many parks and rec departments run their municipal golf courses — so we’ve put together some information about best practices and what (our department) should do, what (those towns) wish they hadn’t done — those types of things.”
Despite the continuing gathering of information, the mayor said, “This is still something where we are not at a point where we know where we’re going. So, I think what we’re going to do is continue to analyze.”
“We’re going to probably have a conversation with the seller because I think we have to, out of courtesy, at least tell him where our number might be in terms of a negotiation using all of the documentation that we have since accumulated,” Zoppo-Sassu said.
As far as bringing to the public a discussion about how the acquisition will move forward and what the plans are, Zoppo- Sassu said it doesn’t make sense at this point.
“We don’t have a plan to put forward with what that number would look like,” she said, “what that tax impact would be if there was one, what the management plan would look like, who would be in charge, how would we do this as a community.”
The mayor said the city still plans to hold a public meeting
“I am looking to potentially schedule that meeting for the end of August as people are hopefully back from vacations,” said Zoppo-Sassu. “It will be most likely here, it will be on Zoom as well, and it will open up the plan as to how we tentatively might see this, and we’ll talk about it then.”
She added, “There is also a really good chance that the seller may say (that the city’s offer is) not a number that he’s interested in — and we may not end up having that meeting (with the public).”
The council in March unanimously approved two motions to set the stage for acquiring the property. First, it made a motion to refer the property to the Planning Commission. Secondly, the council unanimously approved a motion to authorize the mayor or acting mayor to enter into a letter of intent to buy the property on behalf of the city.
Since then, funds for the acquisition were included in the 2026-27 capital improvement budget.
In the past, the mayor said the golf club brings in about $100,000 in taxes to the city. She felt the revenue from operating the golf course could offset the loss in tax revenue.
The city is looking to acquire the property to forestall possible development of the land for housing.
Mike Chaiken is the editor of CTFashionMag.com and was the longtime editor of the Bristol Observer.
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