Holmes Harbor Golf Course closes after sewer district wins court fight

Holmes Harbor Golf Course has closed, turning a long-running dispute in Freeland into an immediate disruption for golfers, employees, nearby businesses and South Whidbey residents who have watched the fight play out for years. Island County Superior Court Judge Carolyn Cliff ruled in favor of Holmes Harbor Sewer District, and the district now says the course is closed under direction of a receiver.

The shutdown matters because the golf course has been more than a place to play. Holmes Harbor Sewer District says it serves more than 470 homes, has capacity for about 630, and reuses reclaimed water to irrigate the 57-acre, 18-hole course. That makes the property part of the sewer system as well as a neighborhood amenity, so the closure changes both daily recreation and the way the site fits into the surrounding Holmes Harbor area.

The dispute had been building for months. In April 2025, the sewer district filed an unlawful detainer lawsuit in Island County Superior Court against Holmes Harbor Golf Course and owner Paul Lavin, alleging $7,107 in unpaid 2024 mowing services. Court material and earlier reporting said the lease was supposed to renew every five years over a 10-year period, but it terminated on Feb. 28, 2025. The conflict also reached the courts before: in 2017, Judge Alan Hancock ruled for the sewer district in a parking-easement fight, finding a 1993 master site plan gave the district a nonexclusive right to access and use the lot.

For South Whidbey, the closure raises immediate questions about jobs, traffic and what comes next for one of the area’s most familiar properties. Nearby businesses that relied on golfers and course activity could feel the loss quickly, while residents are left to wonder whether the land will sit idle, be repurposed or become part of a larger utility plan. The Holmes Harbor Golf and Yacht Club subdivision, platted in the 1960s and described in court material as having about 500 lots, has long been shaped by these land-use tensions. With the course now closed and the case tied to a receiver, the next phase will likely determine whether Holmes Harbor remains a golf course, a utility asset or something entirely different.