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The state Division of Parks and Recreation is urging Guilford County to reject plans for a golf course community next to Haw River State Park, saying the project is flawed environmentally and threatens the park's future.

If Guilford leaders approve the Patriot's Landing project, division Director Lewis Ledford said, it would be "inconsistent" with their earlier statements of support for the park.

"Guilford County stands at a significant intersection with respect to the state park," Ledford said in a letter sent Wednesday to County Manager David McNeill.

The project's Florida developer, Bluegreen Corp., plans to put about 775 houses on a 690-acre tract the state has hoped for years to include in the fledgling park. Plans call for an upscale, gated neighborhood of single-family houses, patio homes and town houses built around a 182-acre golf course north of N.C. 150 and east of Church Street.

Bluegreen won a rezoning vote to allow the project in a 5-2 decision by Guilford's planning board Aug. 8. But last week, park supporters filed an appeal likely to be heard by the Board of Commissioners in October.

Ledford said he wrote

McNeill to convey "the state park system's support and endorsement of this appeal."

"Essentially, the rezoning would adversely impact current and future operation, management and plans for Haw River State Park," he said.

Ledford said that besides inhibiting the park, Patriot's Landing is worrisome because it would take large amounts of water from the Haw River to irrigate its golf course and because it includes a sewage treatment plant near the river.

The park system director noted that the fledgling state park hosts thousands of students each year at its Summit Environmental Education Center, which focuses strongly on the abundant wetlands nearby.

"If a significant amount of water is drawn from the Haw River, this opportunity may be severely limited or eliminated," Ledford said.

Bluegreen attorney Henry Isaacson said that he did not want to rebut Ledford's letter point by point, but added that it's disturbing a state official would inject himself into a local issue this way.

"I question the propriety of the state getting involved in a county zoning matter," the Greensboro lawyer said.

"I don't quite understand why the state has waited so long to get so interested in this property."

Isaacson speculated that state officials might have an ulterior motive in their protest of Patriot's Landing — leaving land owners in the area with no other option than selling to the state at a reduced price.

"They'll say, 'You only have one alternative, to sell to the state of North Carolina and the price has gone down considerably,' " Isaacson said.

Bluegreen is offering to give about 100 acres of floodplain to the state park, along with a 50-foot strip of "upland" that could be used for trails. State officials have said the property isn't wide enough for suitable trails.

The company also continues to negotiate separately with the park system, which has said that — if the project goes forward — it wants to buy another 50 acres of the Patriot's Landing tract. Bluegreen said it wants $6 million for the land.

Isaacson said the proposed Patriot's Landing is not the only undeveloped land near the park, noting that more than 1,500 acres are available nearby.

But park system leaders see the Bluegreen site as key to the park reaching its full potential, park system spokesman Charlie Peek said.

"It's a misconception that somehow the state park is going to happen anyway and that there are other lands available in this area," Peek said.

It will be much less valuable to the public and the environment "if you end up with a state park that's disjointed and wedged into a patchwork of subdivisions," he said.

Peek said the park system is not seeking to underpay anybody for property. Armed with several state trust funds with money set aside for conservation purposes, it has the financial backing to compete head-to-head with developers in buying important pieces of property, Peek said.

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or twireback@news-record.com