Verdugo Hills Golf Course will close and a proposal to build a gated community is on the table
The Verdugo Hills Golf Course is slated to close at the end of the year as the future of the site remains uncertain.
A man who answered the phone at the golf course Monday confirmed the course will close on Dec. 31, but did not give his name and declined to speak any further on the matter.
While some residents want to preserve the land as open space, Snowball West Investments, L.P., the owner of the property for last dozen years, has submitted plans to Los Angeles city officials to develop a gated residential community on the site.
Proposed plans for the development show the site could have between 221 and 229 two-story, single family homes, each varying from 1,800 to 2,700 square feet.
They would be built on 28 acres of the 58-acre site.
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An alternative idea proposes a residential equestrian community made up of 86 single-family homes, featuring attached equestrian units that would stable up to five horses.
Findings from an environmental impact report on those plans are expected to be released early next year, said Marc Stirdivant, chairman of the board for Glendale-Crescenta V.O.I.C.E., a group seeking to transform the golf course into a regional park, potentially by raising enough money to purchase the land from Snowball West Investments if the company is willing to sell.
Stirdivant, who is also a senior administrative analyst for the city of Glendale in its community services and parks department, opposes any development on the course, which is often utilized by Glendale and La Crescenta residents.
Michael Hoberman, an investor with Snowball West Investments, did not return requests for comment on this story.
“We’re going to fight tooth and nail to keep it preserved,” Stirdivant said. “We’re going to keep working and hoping the funding could be found to purchase the golf course from the owners at a fair price. The hard part is finding the money to make the purchase.”
Stirdivant said he also wants to see a portion of the land commemorate the site’s former use as the Tuna Canyon Detention Station, a Japanese internment camp that operated there during World War II.
A previous effort to preserve the site as a historic cultural monument failed in 2013 partly because the site’s historic buildings and structures were demolished in 1960, the year the golf course opened.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
