Marines Reject Golf Course on Camp Pendleton

Marine Corps officials in Washington have turned down San Clemente’s request to develop a municipal golf course on Camp Pendleton property, City Manager James B. Hendrickson said.

The city has been working on plans for the course since 1972 with Camp Pendleton officials and the state Department of Parks and Recreation, which leases the land around Cristianitos Road as part of San Onofre State Park. The plan had the approval of both agencies, Hendrickson said.

Maj. Gen. Robert E. Haebel, commander of Camp Pendleton, notified San Clemente Mayor Robert D. Limberg of the decision in a letter last week. The letter cited concern over the proposed Foothill Freeway, which would cut through part of Camp Pendleton.

“We are naturally very disappointed,” Hendrickson said. City officials had hoped that the new course would relieve some of the congestion at San Clemente Municipal Golf Course.

Hendrickson said he thought the objection was not the freeway but the idea of encroachment on Marine property.

“Everyone out here has approved it, but some guy sits in Washington and sees military installations all over the country being nipped away at by civilians; he sees encroachment and says: ‘This has got to stop,’ ” Hendrickson said.

A fee hike at San Clemente Municipal Golf Course since April has brought in about $25,000 a month for a new course, Hendrickson said.

The city now will look for another site for a second course, possibly in the backcountry, he said.