SIMI VALLEY : Park District May Lease Golf Course

In an effort to raise revenues, the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District is considering leasing a nine-hole golf course in Simi Valley to a private company that would continue to operate the facility for public use.

The park district’s board on Thursday will consider a proposal to invite offers from private companies interested in leasing the 26-acre Sinaloa Golf Course on Madera Road south of Royal Avenue, said Donald E. Hunt, the district’s assistant general manager.

The lease income could bring needed revenues to the district, Hunt said. A private operator also could better afford to make needed improvements to the golf course, he added.

The 33-year-old course, which the park district has owned for about 25 years, needs a new sprinkler system that could cost more than $300,000, Hunt said.

In addition, the tees and greens at the course need to be enlarged to accommodate more golfers, he said.

Parks officials got the idea for leasing out Sinaloa this spring, Hunt said, when they negotiated a new, 15-year lease for the district’s other golf facility, the Simi Hills Golf Course.

Under the new lease on the Simi Hills course, the district receives $600,000 in annual income plus a percentage of greens fees from the private operator, Golf Enterprises Inc.

The previous lease brought in only $225,000 plus a percentage of greens fees, Hunt said.

The Sinaloa Golf Course earned the district $244,000 in greens fees during the 1990-91 fiscal year, he said. But the costs of operating and maintaining the course are about $200,000 annually.