City staff to recommend no golf course expansion

For those following the , the Draft of the Initial Study for the Golf Course Lease was recently released for with the recommendation of a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND). This means that as long as the study is not contested and everyone's questions and comments are answered satisfactorily, the city could offer the lease, including the driving range expansion clause, to Donovan Brothers Golf. The project itself was found to have little environmental impact, which could be mitigated for (hence a Mitigated Negative Declaration).

Now for the good news. City staff is recommending (Apr 18, 2012 Agenda Packet, p. 229, ) the following:

Instead, it is recommended that the City Council:
    1) Direct staff to modifY the existing management agreement with Donovan to delete references about a proposed lease agreement; and
     2) Direct staff to revise the MND to reflect that the City would implement the capital improvement program for the golf course instead of Donovan; and
    3) Provide direction whether to delete or leave in place the option to expand the driving range expansion.

The analysis below (p. 231) indicates that the city is going to try to continue having the golf course managed by Donovan rather than entering into a long term lease agreement. Furthermore, they are recommending that the driving range expansion not be part of the capital improvements, but rather to use the money for needed improvements to kitchen, rest rooms, etc.

Analysis
Staff recommends that the City continue with a Management Agreement with Donovan because it is advantageous for the City from a financial standpoint. Although the driving range expansion was expected to "enhance" the golf experience, staff recommends that this component be eliminated. Shifting the funds from the driving range expansion to other improvements, such as the kitchen and restroom upgrades, would result in greater value to the golf course operations. If the City Council is inclined to remain in the management agreement, staff will request that the City Council approve a 5-year capital improvement program for the golf course at a future meeting. It would include all of the items listed above (under "lease agreement") except for the driving range expansion. At that time, the City Council will have a revised Initial Study IMND that has removed all references to a lease agreement and eliminates the driving range expansion from the capital improvements list. Once this CEQA document is revised and made available, there will be a new 3D-day review period prior to the City Council meeting.

This is good news, indeed. Now we can turn our attention to getting rid of the weeds in the park so that the beautiful native plants can have a chance.