College’s Neighbors Teed Off by Plan for Driving Range

Cerritos College wants to develop a vacant piece of land now used to grow strawberries. But residents are up in arms at the idea of a double-decked golf driving range replacing the strawberry field.

For the college, golfers’ slicing and hooking would translate into $300,000 a year. That’s a lot more than the $25,000 rent the college now gets for the strawberry patch.

Caught squarely in the middle is the Cerritos City Council, which sidestepped making a decision on the issue Thursday night after hearing from college officials, the developer and scores of residents appalled at the idea of looking out their windows at 120-foot high golf netting. Even worse is the prospect of hearing the whiz of golf balls sailing in their direction.

“If you have a golf ball come over to me, I guarantee that I’ll send it back,” said Edward Butler.

The developer, Family Golf Centers Inc., says that noise, lighting and traffic problems can be minimized.

But an overwhelming majority of the more than 200 residents who attended Thursday night’s council meeting were not convinced. They said the enormous fencing would change the nature of the community.

“Why would we want a 120-foot wall across from our street?” asked Dasol Mashaka. “We value the open space.”

Faced with that kind of opposition, college officials asked that a decision on the proposed driving range on 15.5 acres at Studebaker Road and 166th Street be delayed until they could meet again with residents. A vote has been scheduled for Feb. 12.

Cerritos President Fred Gaskin told the council that the college was seeking a temporary development on the land in case enrollment increased in the future and the land was needed for instructional purposes.

The college would lease the land to Family Golf for 20 years with the option of buying out the contract at any time after the first 10 years, Gaskin said.

Moore said that the college would be guaranteed $175,000 a year and that all money earned with go toward expenses such as upgrading buildings and classrooms, many of which are more than 30 years old.

“We are being asked to pay a high quality-of-life price for a minimum amount of income for Cerritos College,” said Tom Primosch, who opposes the driving range.

His wife, ABC School District board member Dixie Primosch, said schoolchildren in the area would be put in harm’s way if golf balls soared over or through the netting.

Council members and residents are concerned that someone teeing off from the upper deck could drive the ball over the net 260 yards away and into homes.

“We use high nets so the balls do not go into the streets,” said Family Golf’s Larry Katz. “We are not interested in lawsuits.”

Barrows and other council members questioned the intensity of the lighting and noise from baseball batting cages which are also included in the proposal.

“Hitting golf balls does not make much noise, but batting cages are a different story,” Barrows said.

A company official and a variety of consultants said that they would work with residents to make sure that lighting, noise and traffic problems were minimized.

Cerritos College Student Body President Wayne Nunnery said the school’s 22,000 students would be well served by the driving range.

“This is a great project,” Nunnery said.