Westlake Water Squabble Targets Golf Course : Recreation: Residents seek control of lake. They say pumping to keep fairways green has left boats hitting bottom.

Fueled by the ire of 300 residents, the management board of Westlake Lake has agreed to create a legal fund to try to wrestle control of the man-made lake’s water supply from the golf course they say is draining it.

Westlake Village Golf Course has pumped lake water to keep its links green for years, but this year, the Westlake Lake Management Assn. says, it has taken so much water from the lake that boats are hitting bottom and docks are sitting on dry land.

The golf course, owned by the PYJ Corp., was given legal title to two pumps and wells in August by a federal government agency distributing the property of a failed savings and loan.

But the 1,200 residents of the upscale, private neighborhood believed they bought into the water supply when they paid for their expensive homes. After all, they have been paying for repairs and maintenance on the pumping system from an assessment fund for 20 years.

If the golf course took more water than homeowners would like--as it has this summer, dropping levels 16 inches--residents thought they had the power to turn the pumps off.

Finding out they have no legal right to do so has been a rude awakening. Outrage over the golf course’s pumping brought residents in droves to a meeting Tuesday night at the Westlake Yacht Club.

They filled the room and overflowed onto balconies, decks and stood five deep outside the entrance to the yacht club.

The sheer force of their numbers forced association President Ben Schulman, who had favored developing a shared-ownership contract with the golf course, to throw out the planned meeting agenda in favor of a four-hour comment period.

While some residents pressed angry faces against club windows and complained of the cold outside, their neighbors inside hurled accusations, tore the microphone from each other’s hands on several occasions and proposed actions against the golf course.

“Turn the pumps off,” said Ed Trent, adding that he would be happy to cause a public relations ruckus for the golf course by marching at its entrance with a picket sign.

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Resident Saul Nadel, who like many lake residents is an attorney, tried to shoot that idea down, proposing instead that they file for a restraining order to stop the golf course from pumping any more water.

“I wouldn’t turn the water off, because all you’re doing is inviting a big lawsuit,” Nadel cautioned.

After residents had gone home, the nine-member executive board voted to establish the legal fund, then approved three other items. The board appropriated $49,500 in reserve funds for shoreline repair and $9,600 to run a new pipeline into the lake from the smaller of the two pumps.

Then over the objections of some members who believe the issue of pump ownership should be decided before any money is spent on repairs, the board voted to spend $25,000 to repair the smaller pump.

“If the golf course really owns them, should we continue to repair the pumps?” asked Crosby Fentress, chairman of the association’s water management committee. “I’d rather spend the money drilling another well.”

Schulman said he believed the board had made progress on the issue.

“The pressure of the crowd pushed them into action,” he said.

But Schulman still faces a recall effort by residents angry with him for suggesting that residents sign a contract with the golf course, even though he has since decided against it. His term expires in four months, and he has no plans to run again, he said.

“But I really don’t think there is much danger of a recall,” he said. “I’ve still got some friends left. If it does pass, fine. I’ll have fun, relax, and let someone else knock their head against a wall.”