Charting a New Course : Thousand Oaks Hopes to Profit From Expanded Golf Facilities

There’s a lot of golf talk in this town nowadays, but the green that city leaders visualize is actually the color of money.

Thousand Oaks is considering proposals to build one--and possibly two--18-hole municipal golf courses, along with a plan to modernize the city’s only existing public course, Los Robles Greens.

Golfers have played more than 800,000 rounds at Los Robles Greens during the past eight years--making it one of the most popular courses in Southern California--and the City Council believes it has a golden opportunity to profit from the sport.

“Los Robles could be even more profitable, and another golf course could make even more money, depending on what the green fees were,” said Mayor Andy Fox. “Sixty-five percent of the people who use Los Robles come from other areas. We need to continue tapping into that.”

Council members have already hired a consultant to redesign the 32-year-old, 111-acre Los Robles Greens, and are working with Ventura County on a plan to build a combined golf course and equestrian center in Hill Canyon, which lies between Thousand Oaks and Camarillo.

City officials are also studying the environmental impacts of several potential uses--including a municipal golf course--for the 326-acre Broome Ranch property in Newbury Park, which was purchased in 1993 by Thousand Oaks and the Conejo Recreation and Park District.

But is there really such a strong demand for more new links in the golf-rich east county? City leaders believe so.

“I think the need has been demonstrated,” said Councilwoman Elois Zeanah. “Our local golfers are going to Ventura and other places because Los Robles is crowded and in disrepair. [The Hill Canyon proposal] is on line. Now let’s get on with it.”

The City Council agreed to spend $51,000 last week to begin work on a land-use plan for the Hill Canyon Regional Recreational Facilities Project--a 300-acre complex that would consist of a golf course, an equestrian center, a network of hiking trails, a community park and a wetlands preservation area.

Since the community park component was added, the plan has won the support of many Santa Rosa Valley residents, who originally opposed the golf course.

Thousand Oaks owns about 250 acres of the land for the proposed project, located on Hill Canyon Road next to the city’s Hill Canyon Sewage Treatment Plant. The remaining 50 acres would come from Ventura County, which owns the property west of Hill Canyon Road.

City and county leaders have drafted a proposed agreement that would transfer 27 acres of the county land to Thousand Oaks. The pact still has to be approved by the City Council and Board of Supervisors.

Under the agreement, Thousand Oaks would pay the county $250,000 for the land within 60 days, along with pledging to share a portion of the green fees the city collects from the course during its first 25 years of operation.

Council members have yet to decide how much they would charge golfers to play at Hill Canyon, which is expected to be a much tougher course than Los Robles Greens. But Finance Director Robert Biery said city officials have been working with a figure of about $40 for an 18-hole-round in their estimates.

Despite charging some of the lowest green fees in the region--weekend rates of $15 for residents and $20 for nonresidents--Thousand Oaks makes about $250,000 a year in profits from Los Robles Greens, Biery said.

That is expected to increase later this year, when council members consider raising fees at Los Robles Greens. Revenues are expected to rise further after the course is upgraded and redesigned, according to city officials.

Despite the rosy prognosis, Zeanah said she believes that golf courses may not bring in as much profit as expected because of their expensive maintenance costs. She said she supports the Hill Canyon course mainly because it would be a community asset.

“All the money you get has to be plowed back into it, so a golf course is not going to make money for a long time,” Zeanah said. “The idea of a golf course as a cash cow has proven to be a fallacy.”

Plans to redesign Los Robles Greens, delayed for years because of a lack of money, have hit a new rut: a lawsuit by a nearby landowner who complains that stray balls from the course’s driving range are wreaking havoc on his property.

City officials are trying to work out an agreement with the attorney for Al Dickens--who claims to have been knocked unconscious by a golfer’s errant slice--to improve safety at the golf course. Until they do, the remodeling project has been postponed so both improvements can be made simultaneously.

“We have a responsibility to maintain our current course,” said Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski. “We have to take care of what we have before we go and build something new.”