Smokestacks & Geraniums is an ongoing column in San Diego devoted to, in this case, raising cain by arguing for conversion of golf courses to housing the living:
"Here's an idea: Redevelop all 88 golf courses in San Diego County to provide much-needed housing and to plug budget deficits with the resulting increase in property taxes.Is the author an agent provocateur seeking to bolster support for golf by arguing for something truly bizarre?'Heresy!' 'Dead on arrival!' is the predicted response of links lovers, whose sporting ancestors began hitting those little white balls on San Diego's first courses more than a century ago.
How can anyone seriously speak of paving over nearly 12,000 acres of some of San Diego's most picturesque land for urban development?
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Strictly by land-use terms, golf is a land hog, taking up dozens or hundreds of acres for a single purpose, many times the space needed for other sports whose facilities can serve many functions.
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...look at the balance sheet for Torrey Pines.
San Diego's premiere course, Torrey Pines sits on 332 acres of prime coastal-view property. Despite its dawn-to-dusk popularity, it will generate only $1.7 million in net income to city coffers, according to the city's 2004 budget projections. The city's only other municipally operated course, in Balboa Park, generates no significant cash after expenses, said city golf course manager Jim Allen.
But if the Torrey Pines property were sold for luxury home development, according to the Meyers Group real-estate consulting firm, the land itself could bring at least $5 million an acre and the residential development could generate three times that in home value.
Used as a resort hotel, research center, corporate headquarters or theme park, the property, sales and tourist tax revenues could be as much as that or more. And there could be open space left over for watching the sunset from the cliffs at no charge.
I should not make light. The author presents a challenging idea. Why should an urban government subsidize anything as space-consumptive as a golf course? Or with as narrow an audience as public art? I guess thatis what the court's would call a "political question."
Just north of Burlington, Ontario, about 20 minutes from where I live, developers in the last five years have built a brand new subdivision complete with golf course running through it. People are paying premium prices for new houses that back onto a stretch of fairway. The downside is the number of balls that accidentally end up in backyards, going through windows, hitting young children--it has happened, one little girl was hit on the hand by a stray ball. Still, I think it is a novel concept.
Posted by: rich | Aug 20, 2003 at 08:20 PM