Plan by Aronimink to cut down trees for PGA Tour draws some opposition

The exclusive Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square is preparing to host the 2026 PGA Championship, an event that will bring the golf world’s biggest stars and tens of thousands of spectators to the Philly area.

It will also draw a host of international media, all of who will need to set up somewhere.

To squeeze it all in, Aronimink is planning to clear-cut about 10 acres of trees to build a temporary broadcast center. The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors last Monday voted to grant the private club a waiver to do so.

That decision isn’t sitting well with some conservationists, who say the razing of woods could create flooding and other environmental issues downstream in Thomas Run, which flows into Darby Creek. The plan has received pushback from several local environmental groups, who also contend it will destroy wildlife habitat.

The township’s own Environmental Advisory Council expressed concerns at a meeting in November given a potential impact on areas such as the creek and adjacent Skunk Hollow Woods on the Newtown-Radnor border, an area identified by the township as favorable to wildlife. The council feared erosion that could cause water to run into sensitive areas, destroying part of a wildlife corridor habitat and forcing deer into neighboring areas.

Sheila O’Sullivan-Feeney, chair of the township Environmental Advisory Council, spoke out against Aronimink’s plan at the supervisors’ meeting.

“We dug deep into these plans,” O’Sullivan-Feeney said, adding that she believed the supervisors care about the community. “So that’s why we’re disappointed that Aronimink is the one that came with this plan to destroy over 10 acres and all the trees to host a PGA tournament. We’ve offered to discuss alternatives with them and look for other ways to accomplish their goal, and we want to support them.”

Some residents have also come out against the plan, although others, including club members, support it.

Aronimink officials say worries are unfounded because the media center will be removed after the tournament, and 638 trees will be planted. Some of those trees will be placed within 1.5 acres of the razed woods off St. Davids Road, with the rest planted around the property. The remaining approximately 8.5 acres will be turned into meadow, and lies within an area that could become additional golf holes in the future for the club’s 325 members and their families.

Aronimink officials say they are squeezed for space because the course runs 300 acres, compared to 500 acres at other PGA Championship host courses. They also say the event will be a huge driver for the local economy. Aronimink is a 20-mile drive from Philadelphia.

“This is a relatively unique opportunity, and the club is very proud to host this championship,” Mark Damico, an attorney representing Aronimink, said at last Monday’s meeting. “A tournament of this scope and size would typically be held on a property that is much larger — 500, 600 acres. We need this 10 acres of land that is not otherwise cleared for this broadcast compound, meaning that there will be tractor-trailers, dozens of them, that will be here to broadcast the tournament throughout the world.”

Aronimink hired Glenn Riggs, an arborist, to survey the trees within the 10.5 acres. Riggs counted 417 trees that would be removed, 229 of which are healthy. Of the unhealthy remainder, 144 are dead or dying ash. Tens of thousands of trees throughout the Philadelphia region have been attacked by the Emerald ash borer and are being removed by residents, communities, and parks. The remaining 44 non-ash trees, such as oaks and maples, are also dead or dying.

Aronimink estimates that 638 trees would be needed to replace those cut down, according to a township formula that takes size into account, and says that still leaves 60 to 70 acres of contiguous wooded land, along with hundreds of trees scattered around the course, as well as tennis courts, the clubhouse, patio, and learning center. Aronimink notes that it is certified by the Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary Program.

Neal Camens, with Chester Valley Engineers, who is working with Aronimink, disputed a figure circulated among the community of 900 trees being targeted for removal.

“There was never anything remotely truthful about removing 900,” Camens said.

In the future, Aronimink is looking at possibly building additional holes in the area of the 8.5 acres that would revert to meadow, according to Damico, the attorney, but there are no formal plans or timeline.

Nearby conservation nonprofits, including the Darby Creek Valley Association and Radnor Conservancy, have lined up against Aronimink’s plan and are asking for alternatives, saying there has been “a lack of awareness” among the public.

O’Sullivan-Feeney, the chair of the township Environmental Advisory Council, said members of Aronimink’s leadership are not Newtown Township residents and are making decisions that will “alter our township.”

She also said she feared the roughly 8.5-acre meadow that would be created after the media center is dismantled would eventually be converted to golf holes.

Kate Goddard, vice president of the Darby Creek Valley Association, who lives in Berwyn, said she had concerns that the “environmental justice communities downstream of this township will be greatly affected by the storm water.” She also said that deer now in the woods will move to adjacent properties, and that even dead and dying trees provide habitat for birds and other animals.

Aronimink’s plan drew support from at least six residents at the meeting.

Bill Barry, a resident for 35 years and a club member, said that the plan is well thought out and that Aronimink has worked closely with local officials and adhered to rules without expecting breaks from the township.

“We understand that things have to be done properly,” Barry said.

Jim Hageney, who lives next to the club, and is a member, agreed. He said a number of trees on the area to be cleared are already dead and felled. He said the club’s “environmental practices have always been superior” and its plan will work.

“Aronimink does everything to the highest standards possible,” Hageney said.