Golf Center Changes On Hold

With a long list of unfunded Capital Improvement Projects, the Burlingame City Council tabled a conversation on the reconfiguration of the at 250 Anza Blvd. to provide more recreational space Monday night. Although VB Golf, the proprietor of the land, now requires just 50 percent of the space, the nearly $8.5 million price tag for reconfiguration was a hard sell.

“$8.5 million—that’s a tall order,” Mayor Terry Nagel said. “Absent the enthusiastic response from the community, this is a non-starter.”

Although there is a need for more community recreational space, the city lacks the necessary funds required for creating new fields at the Burlingame Golf Center. Nagel suggested the council could survey the community to gauge the desire for new recreational space, which would help the council weigh its priority on a list of city projects including .

At Monday’s meeting, a conceptual site plan was presented for the area’s reconfiguration. Changes included creating two additional synthetic turf soccer fields, adding a play area to make the space more family friendly and relocating city storage space, all while decreasing the number of tee boxes at the driving range.

Although revenue from tournaments and possible advertisements around the field were discussed, the council noted that realistically the project would get pushed down on an already long list of projects.

“My concern is that we’d somehow set this artificial expectation that it’s on our to-do list…and then we’d be letting them down,” said Councilmember Cathy Baylock. “I just feel it would be disingenuous.” She also noted the $8.5 million was just an estimate, and additional costs could pile up as unforeseen problems or changes occur.

However, earlier in the night the formation of a Parks & Recreation Foundation was discussed.  The councilmembers agreed if funding became available through such a foundation, they were open to the idea.

Any decision on the site must be made before the before the end of June 2013, when the contract with the driving range will either automatically be extended for five years or the council will opt out.  Although this gives the city nearly three years, study session documents noted discussions on alternate uses and their implementation should begin.