What started as an abrupt removal of a historic swim team may result in a change for the entire community surrounding the San Ramon Golf Club.

The San Ramon Golf Club was sold at the end of 2015 to Michael Schlessinger and Beverly Hills attorney Ronald Richards.

The new ownership is in the preliminary phases of trying to get the land rezoned for residential building. Both have been known to use hardball business practices to change city zoning permits.

And the San Ramon Aquabears may be the first casualty in what could be seen as a battle that could rage on for years.

“When he threw the Aquabears out he began down this path,” said city councilmember Scott Perkins.

Aquabears head coach Thomas Pierson, who has been involved with the Aquabears swim program since he was five and head coach for the last three years, was both angry and disappointed to learn that their pool would be closed for good.

“They don’t care,” Pierson said. “It’s just corporate greed.”

It was not just the fact that the team was kicked out that was upsetting but the matter by which it was done.

“We asked, ‘What does our future look like,’ and [the pool staff] told us, ‘As far as this season you’re fine,’” said Mike Friedel, a parent and board member of the Aquabears.

He said that the families and the teams had already paid  the pool fees for the summer season.

Friedel as well as the rest of the team were convinced that they would be practicing at the golf course pool until the Friday before practice was scheduled to start. A mass email was sent out to the entire team letting the whole team know that the pool would be closed for the summer, leaving the team scrambling to find a new place to practice.

All the money the team and individual families had paid was refunded by the next week .

The Aquabears have found a new home for the time being at the Dougherty Valley Aquatic Center.

Unfortunately, the eviction of the Aquabears may just be the tip of the iceberg. The city council has been taking a hard stance in keeping the land zoned as a golf course.

“I believe in my original decision to zone it [as a golf course],” said Perkins. “Nowhere in the permitted uses is residence.”

But Schlessinger has a history in changing people’s minds. In Escondido, California, Schlessinger had tons of chicken manure dumped on a golf course after letting it fall into a state of disrepair, creating a stain in the middle of a once vibrant neighborhood.

The city is bracing itself for any potential tricks that Schlessinger might use to convince the city into changing the zoning permits.

“We’ve notified the Bay Area air quality control district of what he did in Escondido,” said Perkins.

The end game is ultimately the money.

Schlessinger and Richards bought the course for eight million. Perkins estimates the land would be worth 50 million as undeveloped buildable land and at least 600 million as fully developed real estate.

“You can put five homes to the acre and sell each for 1.2 million,” said Perkins “That’s why he is willing to hold on [to the land].”

With 100 acres of land and a terms of purchase requirement of only one year of golf course operations before the owners can try and do something else with the land Perkins predicts the course will be changed in November or December.

“We can’t force him to run a business,” said Perkins.

Until Schlessinger formally files a request to change the zoning of the land the city’s hands are tied.

“If he wants, it’s his right to apply, but the city is under no obligation to change,” said Perkins.

If a formal request is ever filed it would take a four-fifths majority vote from the planning commission and the city council to rezone the course.

“It ain’t gonna happen,” Perkins stated plainly.

As for the Aquabears, they will continue swimming and bringing families and friends  together.

“We have a strong community based team. We like to call it a social team that swims,” said Friedel.