Judge blocks development of Henderson’s Legacy Golf Club

A temporary restraining order was granted Tuesday to maintain the shuttered Legacy Golf Club in Henderson as a golf course.

Judge Joe Hardy’s decision requires that the owners — who include Georges Maalouf and Eddie Haddad — restore the golf course to the condition it was in on July 4, before the course was closed.

The injunction prohibits development. A trial, set for November, will determine whether that will be a permanent order.

“We intend to comply with the judge’s decision and we look forward to our next opportunity in court to present our case,” Maalouf said. “We are comfortable with the set of facts we have and we look forward to our next opportunity to fully explain our case.”

Maalouf added that he and Haddad plan to do community outreach and hope to meet with homeowners associations to get input from residents.

The motion was filed by residents of the Grand Legacy Community Association and four other communities, arguing that a 50-year deed prohibits the area from redevelopment for another 21 years.

“We recognize that there’s a deed restriction with the property,” he said. “Anything we do would have to come with approvals from the area’s surrounding homeowners. As of now, we have nothing planned yet.”

David S. Lee and Michael E. Kostrinsky of Lee, Hernandez, Landrum &Garofalo Law Firm, told the judge that Legacy’s owners lost more than $700,000 per year by maintaining the golf course, which was consuming more than 1.1 million gallons of water per day. Their solution was to xeriscape the land.

Hardy ruled that xeriscaping falls under redevelopment.

Erika Pike Turner, attorney for the homeowners, celebrated the decision.

“The homeowners are relieved,” Turner said. “They felt like they were having their quiet enjoyment of their property threatened. This is just the first step. We’re hoping for a permanent injunction requiring the permanent maintenance of that property as a golf course.”

More than 200 people showed up to the Regional Justice Center throughout the day in support of the injunction.

“I wasn’t surprised to see how many people would show up,” said Dannion Brinkley, who lives near Legacy. “This issue impacts more than 5,000 people who live around the area. The one good thing that this has done is bringing us all together. I don’t think they were expecting this much of a pushback.”

Joe Fuscaldo, who lives near Legacy, wasn’t as quick to celebrate.

“It doesn’t mean anything except the case is paused,” he said. “This is the first step in a huge fight. We want the owners to know that we’re not going away. We’re going to fight this until the bitter end.”

Contact Sandy Lopez at slopez@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4686. Follow @JournalismSandy on Twitter.