LEBANON — One of the longest-running legal battles in the Upper Valley may be drawing to a close. But whether people living near the battlefield will rejoice at the peace is another matter.

The nonprofit Carter Community Building Association, operator of the CCBA recreational center, announced that it is negotiating with the owner of Lebanon’s Carter Country Club to settle their acrimonious lawsuits over the fate of the nine-hole golf course.

New London developer Doug Homan wants to build a housing complex while the CCBA has long maintained it has a legal right that protects the golf course.

Citing “considerable time, effort and expense” and court decisions that undercut its legal claim, CCBA’s trustees notified members via email this week that it is finalizing an agreement that paves the way for Homan to develop the property while assuring the golf course would remain open “for at least another year.”

According the email, the agreement “incentivizes” Homan to keep the course in place “hopefully for much longer.”

“Since becoming the owner of the golf course property in the early 1990s, Doug Homan’s CCC has taken the CCBA to court several times,” CCBA said in its notice to members this week.

The dispute revolves around a restrictive covenant on the golf course the nonprofit contends it was granted by a former owner, developer Edmond “Peanie” Goodwin.

The CCBA said in the email that although its commitment to honor Goodwin’s wishes “has been steadfast,” it had become unproductive to continue the legal fight, especially in light of court rulings in Homan’s favor.

“The CCBA fought on and appealed the ruling to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. In December 2022, the New Hampshire Supreme Court agreed with the Superior Court that the ‘reversionary interest’ granted to the CCBA in the 1980s was not legal and not enforceable,” the email said. “We had never owned the golf course, and with this ruling the courts determined we never would.”

Neither CCBA executive director Kerry Artman nor Homan responded to requests for comment on Thursday.

The announcement likely will be met with dismay by residents of the residential neighborhood along Buckingham Place who have opposed Homan’s plan to build a mixed residential-retail complex that would include 400 apartments, 186 senior housing units, a 300-seat restaurant and 60,000-square-foot retail space.

The neighbors argued the development would create problems with traffic, drainage and other quality of life issues.

Homan has not provided a public update on his plans for the Carter Country Club site since 2018, when he filed a civil lawsuit in Grafton County Superior Court asking the court to declare he had a clear title to the property after CCBA blocked his effort to develop it.

The CCBA maintained that its restrictive covenant on the parcel stipulated the golf course remain “in perpetuity.”

“Over the last three decades of challenging litigation, the CCBA’s commitment to honoring Mr. Goodwin’s intent of the original agreement has been steadfast,” the email said.

The odd-duck legal entanglement, with one party owning the real estate but another party that never owned the property exercising an interest in its use, ground through the state court system for years as different aspects of the agreement were challenged. At various stages through the litigation, each side notched wins until the parties in January notified the court they were in settlement talks and to stay plans for trial.

The deed, which included a “reversion interest” that would cause the owner to lose control of the property if the golf course did not operate for a year, however, ultimately did not withstand scrutiny in the courts, Jeremy Eggleton, an attorney with Orr & Reno who represents the CCBA, said on Thursday.

“When Peanie and his group transferred that (reversion) to the CCBA, it turns out 40 years later that the common law says you can’t do that with an interest like that. We fought hard against that particular conclusion, but ultimately the courts ruled in favor of the Carter Country Club. So it’s really the court decisions that are driving” the settlement agreement, Eggleton said.

Details on the agreement were not available this week.

CCBA in its email to members averred it would “provide further information as soon as we can.”

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.

CORRECTION: The late Edmond “Peanie” Goodwin is the  former majority owner of the Carter Country Club. Goodwin’s first name was incorrect in a previous version of this story.