The town of Oakville may have found a way to save Glen Abbey golf course. The developer has been fighting for the right to replace the historic course with a residential subdivision and it was winning its cases before the Ontario Municipal board. But now the town’s heritage committee has unanimously decided that the whole course should be protected, as part of Oakville’s Cultural Heritage.

The town of Oakville considers the Glen Abbey lands to be about 230 acres surrounding 16 Mile Creek. Over time that land has held Indigenous peoples, a farm, a sawmill, a private estate, a country club, even a Jesuit retreat. Town staff say it meets all the provincial requirements for heritage designation.

The town would still have to figure out how to preserve the designated parts of the course but it would likely have to remain a golf course. The key, says the coalition to save Glen Abbey, is that the Ontario Municipal board no longer makes decisions.

The Glen Abbey neighbourhood is full of signs supporting the golf course, they don’t want a new neighbourhood of 3200 families in its place.

The committee decision goes to council on Monday for a vote but council has been supportive of heritage designation. They would later deal with how a new heritage designation will affect the Glen Abbey development application.