AG looks at lease of Hooper property for golf
As published on page one of the Feb 13, 2011 edition of The Keene Sentinel, and online.
WALPOLE -- When George L. Hooper looked out over his estate a century ago, he pictured an educational institution dedicated to training the youth of Walpole for careers in agriculture and forestry. Nothing in his last will and testament indicates he pictured a golf course.
These days, however, it may be hard to picture Walpole without the Hooper Golf Club. The nine-hole course and clubhouse restaurant have become a beloved asset to the community, said Selectmen Whitney R. Aldrich.
Hooper, who died in 1917, left his mansion on Prospect Hill and the surrounding land to the town to fulfill his educational vision.
Since 1927, Hooper's task has been carried out by the Hooper Institute, from its headquarters in a replica of the Hooper mansion built for educational purposes across the street.
For the same period, the original mansion and a portion of the land has been leased to the golf course.
Now the lease between the town and the golf club has come under the scrutiny of the N.H. Attorney General's Office.
"We've reached the point in time now where in order to make this a sufficiently productive asset for the trust, we need to have the golf course pay more rent," said Terry M. Knowles, assistant director of the Attorney General's Charitable Trusts Unit.
Under the most recent lease agreement, the golf association paid $30,000 a year for the lease of the property, Aldrich said. The Walpole selectmen serve as the trustees of the Hooper Trust.
The board has offered new lease terms to the club and is waiting for a response, Aldrich said. He declined to discuss the offered terms, citing contract negotiations.
This is not the first time Knowles' office has taken an interest in the relationship between the golf club, the town and the trust. For the first 40 years of its existence, the club paid no rent for the use of the land until the attorney general intervened, Knowles said.
The lease came under scrutiny again in the 1990s, when the town petitioned the courts to modify the terms of Hooper's will so that money he had set aside to build additional buildings could be used instead to maintain existing structures.
The will envisioned the establishment of an independent school, but the money Hooper left behind was never enough to make that a reality, according to court documents. In 1926, the courts had ruled that it would be sufficient for the trust to support programs in the town's public schools.
The Attorney General's Office demanded the town provide information about the relationship with the golf course, and the legal negotiations extended for almost two years.
At the end, the court ruled that the interest on the money Hooper had set aside for new construction could be used for other purposes, if it were divided 50/50 between a maintenance fund for the trust's existing buildings and a scholarship fund for Walpole students pursuing higher education in Hooper's fields of interest.
In 1995, Judge Christina M. O'Niell wrote: "It shall be the duty of the trustees to make the Walpole Golf Course property a prudent investment ... which shall produce the highest possible rate of return consistent with the standards of prudence."
If the town and the golf club cannot come to a rental agreement her office finds satisfies these requirements, Knowles said, the alternative will be for the trust to sell the property and invest the money elsewhere. The buyer could be the golf club, or another entity entirely.
That's not something anyones wants to see, Aldrich said.
"I wouldn't want to be the one to shut it down ... we're trying to make it a win-win situation all around," he said.
tagged with: charitable trusts, Hooper golf course, Hooper Institute, land use, Walpole N.H.
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