GLOBE NORTH 1 / LYNNFIELD

Thanks in part to some endangered birds and creative thinking, the front nine holes of the Sheraton Colonial Resort Golf Course in Lynnfield will be operating this season as a town-run facility.

Through a licensing agreement signed last week between Lynnfield and National Development, the Newton firm that plans to build a village-style development on 68 acres of the golf course site, nine holes reopened Friday under town hands.

National Development had closed the 18-hole course last fall in order to begin construction this year of Meadow Walk of Lynnfield, a mix of retail stores, offices, and housing.

Under a previous deal, the firm had pledged to deed the remaining ...