Board Rejects Golf Course Plans at Pierce

Saying it wants to first complete a master plan for the campus, the Los Angeles Community College District board on Wednesday rejected three golf course proposals for the 200-acre Pierce College farm.

In turning down the golf course plans in a unanimous vote, the seven-member board followed the recommendation of Jim Goodell, the district’s recently hired asset manager.

Goodell had said it was premature to develop a golf course--on one of the largest tracts of open space in the west San Fernando Valley--without looking at the future needs of the entire Woodland Hills campus.

The decision angered developer Eddie J. Milligan, who said he spent $300,000 on his proposal for an 18-hole golf course and equestrian center on the land.

Milligan’s attorney, Bill Powers, said the board’s vote was “legally improper, bad public policy and not in the interest of Pierce College.”

District officials maintained that the vote was well within the law.

“The Board of Trustees can, at will, reject all bids,” said Bonnie James, vice chancellor of the district.

James noted that the request for proposals that Milligan and others replied to had specifically said the district “may choose to . . . reject all proposals and terminate the process. This decision will be solely at the discretion of the district.”

“Any time a proposer gets involved, they come in at their own risk,” she said.

Former Pierce President Bing Inocencio first suggested building a golf course on the undeveloped land in 1998 to generate revenue for the then cash-strapped campus. At the time Pierce was facing a $650,000 shortfall. Milligan’s plan was among three top proposals for golf courses and was projected to earn at least $800,000 annually for the next 20 years. Milligan’s plan had been favored by many college officials earlier this year.

On Wednesday, however, district officials announced Pierce had achieved a budget surplus of $1.3 million.

“Now that they have all this money, they don’t need our money,” said a red-faced Milligan as he stormed out of the meeting.

District officials say the election of a new board, the appointment of a new chancellor and the hiring of a new Pierce president since April has changed the way things are done.

“We want to take control of the process,” said Rocky Young, Pierce’s new president. “We want to start to look at ideas in totality.

“This time we have to have the expertise of an asset manager and a community consultant.”

Martin Mota, a member of the shared governance board that on Wednesday reversed its earlier endorsement of Milligan’s plan, said professional expertise was sorely lacking in the earlier effort to develop the Pierce farm. But now that it is available he advised the board to suspend development proposals until better planning could be done.

Developing academic and facilities master plans will clarify Pierce’s needs, Young said, and help the college make the best use of its farmland.

“The interface of agriculture, biotechnology and life sciences has to be fully thought out before we can make specific suggestions for land use,” Young said.

He said it should take about a year to complete the academic and facilities master plans.