A deal to sell Glen Meadows Golf & Country Club in North Saanich could be finalized in September, bringing improvements to the recreation facility that has been run by the Criddle family for 52 years.
The 131-acre property on McTavish Road, with a clubhouse, six-sheet curling rink, tennis courts and parking lot was listed for sale in May 2016 for $6.9 million.
Two years ago, the family sought to develop about 30 acres of the property, all of which is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, into 35 large-lot residences and donate 100 acres to the municipality. A 50-year lease for $1 would have provided the rink, tennis courts and golf course to the community. North Saanich council unanimously rejected the proposal.
Randy Holt, vice-president of Devencore Realty Victoria Ltd. which is assisting with the sale, declined to comment, saying details would have to come from the buyer, who has been identified as Hong Hua Hu.
“We’re not at liberty to discuss anything at this point,” said the Criddles’ daughter Jo-Anne Seville when she answered the phone at the club on Wednesday.
However, a memo from the Criddle family thanks staff and club members for their support and states that all employees who wish to remain would be retained if the sale goes as planned. “(I)t is a very emotional decision for all of us,” the memo said. “If the sale completes in the fall, it will be exciting to see them give the club the improvements needed to bring it to a top-notch condition.”
Business consultant Keith Dagg welcomed the retention of the club as both a golfer and a curler. “I’m glad, because we want to make sure that curling rinks and golf courses stay in operation in the area.”
In early 2016, Royal Oak Golf Club closed just a few months after the closing of the Prospect Lake Golf Course.
Percy Criddle and his wife, Rae, with the help of their six children, created the 18-hole Glen Meadows course out of a former sheep farm after purchasing the land in 1961 with the proceeds from the sale of their 10-section beef operation in Manitoba.
The land along McTavish Road was purchased from Alan Steamship Lines of Scotland and had been logged long before, leaving giant stumps, boulders and stands of second-growth. The clay-filled north side of the property was knee-deep in water during winter and required the drilling of a dozen wells for irrigation.
Criddle took on the stumps and boulders with a bulldozer and small tractor, hiring contractors to dynamite what he couldn’t clear. The buyers of his Brandon farm defaulted and local banks declined to lend him money on his venture. “We had two options — sell it or work like hell,” recalled Criddle in the Times Colonist in 2005. His father Stuart, uncle Evelyn and aunt Maida — all in their 80s — convinced Criddle this was another “pioneering adventure” and they would help any way they could.
“There were many times that I wondered ‘what am I doing?’ ” Criddle said. “I’d be looking at a stump six feet across and shake my head. But we’d get it out and move on.”
It took years of toil but the course opened in 1965.
What is now the Bayview Place Cardtronics Open on PGA Tour Canada-Mackenzie Tour, started out at Glen Meadows in 1981 with a $50,000 purse, won by Dave Barr of Richmond.
Tennis courts were added to Glen Meadows in 1968 and a curling rink in 1975. After the Blizzard of 1996, the curling club had to be demolished when heavy snow brought down the roof; it was rebuilt as a six-sheet rink.
Rae died in 1985 and Percy is now in his 90s.
The B.C. Assessment Authority valued the property at $5,171,900 as of July 1, 2016.
