Ventura County Perspective : PERSPECTIVE...

Make no mistake about it, the so-called multiuse facility that the Hill Canyon Recreational Resources Authority wants to build in Hill Canyon is for only one recreational use.

There is already a system of trails used by hikers, equestrians and bicyclists. Who is clamoring for a nature center to be built so people can see static examples of what used to live in the canyon?

The project is about golf--including the profits for developers of exclusive homes planned above the course.

Although project proponents emphasize the need for another public golf course, a consulting firm so respected that the Hill Canyon authority has paid it almost a half million dollars produced a study showing otherwise.

Proponents complain that they have difficulty getting the choice weekend morning tee times and call for the city of Thousand Oaks to build a course for them in Hill Canyon. But this is like saying we need to build more theaters or restaurants because they are crowded on Friday nights. Like a restaurant or theater, a golf course needs weekday business to be financially solvent.

Ventura is considering expanding Olivas Park Golf Course from 18 holes to 27. It commissioned a report titled “City of San Buenaventura, Golf Master Plan Analysis, Phase 1,” dated February 1999 and prepared by Golf Dimensions of Irvine. This report is the most recent comprehensive Ventura County golf market analysis available. Golf Dimensions is also involved in the Hill Canyon Project, and a June 10, 1999, expenditure report shows that the firm has been paid $447,084 for “project management.”

In a chapter titled “Market Analysis,” Golf Dimensions states, “Demand for golf in suburban areas like Ventura tends to peak during certain periods, primarily Saturday and Sunday mornings. Successful operation of golf courses, however, requires generating adequate levels of play during non-peak periods.” For this reason, weekday demand is considered in analyzing the golf market, not the availability of weekend morning tee-off times.

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The report also states, “While the inventory of courses will expand in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, the economics of new golf course development in Southern California dictates relatively high greens fees, typically in the $50-plus range, to achieve economic viability.” Should the city build another highly subsidized course like Los Robles so players can have sub-market rates?

The report further states, “The interest in [propensity to play] golf increased sharply nationally from 1996-1997, resulting in a 12% increase in play. Much of this increase was attributable to the impact of Tiger Woods’ entry into the professional tour. However, in 1998, indications are that demand declined 10% as significant attrition has occurred with new golfers.”

Getting to the numerical conclusion, the report includes a table showing the “Theoretical Support for Golf Courses” by the Ventura County population in 1998, 2005 and 2010 respectively as 10.9, 12.4 and 13 18-hole-equivalent courses, and it states that the current inventory is 11 public courses. Private courses were not counted.

However, the report adjusts the current demand up from the theoretical 10.9 courses, which was based on Ventura County demographics, to 12.5 public courses, primarily because of the influx of players from Los Angeles County, where a shortage of golf courses does exist, according to the firm.

So as of today, according to Golf Dimensions, there is a shortage of only 1.5 courses. However, plans already are underway to bring that total to 279 holes--or 15.5 18-hole equivalent courses--in Ventura County. Two of these new courses are scheduled to open this fall: Tierra Rejada Golf Club on Tierra Rejada Road at the 23 Freeway, and Sterling Hills Golf Course in Camarillo. That will give the county a nine-hole surplus by the end of this year.

Two more 18-hole courses below Whiteface Mountain north of the Tapo Canyon freeway exit in Simi Valley have received permits, and the Camarillo Regional Park 18-hole course will soon be ejecting the Camarillo Condors radio-control model airplane club from its field near the old state hospital so construction can begin.

Simi Valley is planning another 18 holes at the east end of Tierra Rejada Road, near its waste water treatment plant, and an additional nine-hole par-three practice course has been proposed next to Tierra Rejada Golf Club. That would make 45 holes of public play within a two-mile stretch of road less than five minutes from the Thousand Oaks city limits.

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The unique environment of Hill Canyon makes it arguably the least suitable proposed site for a golf course in Ventura County. Much of the course would be shaded by the steep walls of the canyon during morning and evening hours; an expensive tramway is proposed to get players down into the canyon; it is in the center of a large area of natural open space, including adjacent Wildwood Park to the east; only 11 holes would fit in the canyon, the other seven holes would have to be located in the Santa Rosa Valley.

Hill Canyon has significant economic value as a natural preserve. The market rate for wetland and riparian habitat for environmental mitigation is about $150,000 per acre. The city spent the summer fighting a criminal investigation instead of making additional sewer repairs because it failed to mitigate damage caused by the repair of the 1998 Hill Canyon sewer line break as promised.

Hill Canyon should be protected as a nature preserve. A simple lowering of the soil level along the creek would create additional riparian and wetland habitat and solve the city’s legal problems with the California Department of Fish and Game and save buying a so-far-unobtainable alternative mitigation site at great expense.

Golfers will soon have many more alternatives, and Thousand Oaks can keep its own little Grand Canyon a natural preserve.