Cypress Council Hears Proposal for New Golf Course

A proposal for a new golf course to replace one that would be destroyed by the planned development of a 160-acre industrial park was outlined Monday night to the Cypress City Council.

The council postponed any action on the proposed development of the Los Alamitos Golf Course as a complex that would include a hotel as well as office and industrial space. But representatives of the developer and a golfers group that has opposed the development said it is likely that a new course will be built on land occupied by the neighboring Los Alamitos Army Reserve Airfield.

“This is a very do-able proposition,” said Noel Hatch, an attorney representing Hollywood Park, which owns the Los Alamitos Golf Course and the adjacent Los Alamitos Race Track. It is Hollywood Park that wants to build the industrial park.

Neil Papiano, another Hollywood Park attorney, said the new course would be financed by the Hollywood Park Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns Los Alamitos Golf Course.

Some area residents and a large men’s club based at the Los Alamitos Golf Course oppose the development. About 50 golfers and residents attended the public hearing. On Aug. 11, the last meeting at which the development was discussed, 200 residents and golfers packed the City Council’s Chambers to protest the plan.

Roger Geyer, past president of the men’s club that has rallied golfers to save the course, said officials of the city and of Hollywood Park have shown an interest in resolving disputes with residents and golfers over how the development will proceed.

Monday, Col. Robert Brandt, commanding officer of the airfield, said at the hearing that 120 acres of the Los Alamitos airfield probably can be used for the new 18-hole course.

But he warned the council that the proposal still needs approval from both the U.S. Department of Defense and the California National Guard.

“In concept . . . it appears feasible to put the golf course in that area,” Brandt said.

Cypress Mayor Otto J. Lacayo said in an interview that he is “very optimistic” about building the new course. Lacayo met Monday afternoon with Army officials, Geyer and Ray Swedo, director of Golf Pro-Management, the company that runs Los Alamitos Golf Course.

“I was very pleased,” Lacayo said. “Our meeting, I felt, was extremely productive.” He said Los Alamitos City Manager Michael Graziano also was supportive of the plan.

Although plans for the industrial park development have not been completed, they include providing for light industrial space, a hotel, office buildings and retail stores. City planners favor the project because it would bring an estimated 7,500 new jobs and $750,000 in revenue for Cypress.

Geyer said Monday night that his group will not abandon its efforts to stop the Hollywood Park development until use of airfield land for a golf course is approved by the Department of Defense and the California National Guard.