Burbank tries to keep fading DeBell Golf Course alive
For nearly a decade, much has been done by Burbank city officials to keep the DeBell Golf Course up and running. Millions of dollars in improvements were made to its clubhouse in an effort to attract more patrons, but to no avail.
It came to the point Tuesday night when the City Council had to make a tough decision regarding the city’s municipal golf course in order to give the facility’s operator more time to revive the dying asset.
Council members unanimously voted to terminate the golf course’s enterprise fund during the 2017-18 fiscal year and move the remaining liabilities, assets and future revenue of the golf course to the city’s General Fund.
Additionally, council members agreed to modify the lease agreement with Scott Scozzola, who oversees the day-to-day operations at DeBell.
The changes include providing four months of rent forgiveness, restructuring the base rent from $300,000 annually to $60,000, changing the rent percentage so that the city receives an additional rent payment that is 10% of the gross revenue if it is greater than $3 million during a fiscal year and requiring that the operator make at least $25,000 in capital improvements annually if the operational margin is greater than $100,000 during a fiscal year, according to Judie Wilke, the city’s director of parks and recreation.
On top of the agreement modifications, council members approved changing the course’s fees to try and bring in more patrons. A Burbank resident looking to play 18 holes will pay at most $25 per round, down from $26, while non-residents will pay $30, a decline from $33. The fee for seniors, both residents and non-residents, will be $15 per round. Currently, seniors who are residents pay $16, while non-resident seniors pay $22.
Those looking to play nine holes or “twilight” rounds at DeBell will also pay $15 per round. Residents pay $15 now, but non-residents pay $20.
“I think I can speak for everyone that has worked on DeBell over the years that no one wished that it would ever get to this point,” Wilke said. “We hoped the fund would recover and continue being a successful enterprise fund for the city. Unfortunately, things in the golf world went much differently than planned.”
Scozzola, who grew up playing golf at DeBell, said he plans to make improvements to various cart paths, the course’s irrigation system, sand traps and driving range.
DeBell opened in 1959 as a par-71, 18-hole golf course and has since evolved to include a clubhouse and a par-3 course. In 1981, the city decided to manage the facility under an enterprise fund, in which any revenue generated by the course would pay for its expenses without dipping into the city’s General Fund.
Like other golf courses in the country, DeBell saw many years of success during the late 1990s and early 2000s when Tiger Woods was at the height of his fame, according to Wilke. As his prominence declined around 2010, so did the sport’s popularity.
During the 2012-13 fiscal year, DeBell reported 56,782 rounds of golf played at the course. By the 2015-16 fiscal year, that figure dropped down to 51,200, Wilke said.
Burbank tried counteracting the decrease by emptying out the golf course’s enterprise fund, which had $6.5 million in it, and loaning Scozzola $2.5 million from the General Fund to build a new clubhouse. However, the number of patrons coming to DeBell did not increase after construction was completed and put the city and the operator in a difficult situation.
Wilke added that last year Scozzola took out a $150,000 personal loan to help pay the rent.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
