County Golf Course Near Moorpark Wins Board’s OK

Hoping to rescue Ventura County’s financially strapped parks department, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved plans for an 18-hole golf course at Happy Camp Regional Park near Moorpark.

Construction of the 900-acre course could begin as soon as next month, with a target opening date of February 2002.

Elated parks department officials, who have struggled for more than a decade to make the department more profitable, anticipate the public course could bring in up to $60,000 in revenue during it’s first year. Eventually, greens fees and other revenues could generate as much as $350,000 annually, they say.

“It provides not only recreational opportunities for the average person, but should also close the funding gap to the existing parks budget,” said Chief Administrative Officer John Johnston.

The department anticipates a budget deficit of roughly $225,000, said Andy Oshita, parks department director.

Highlands Park, a Santa Monica-based company, will build the course, which will include a snack bar and bathroom facilities. The company also will operate the course through a lease agreement with the county.

Craig Price, president of Highlands Park, said his company has spent nearly two years hammering out the details of the course development with county officials and concerned residents.

Some Moorpark residents worry that bringing golf to the 3,000-acre Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park will mean traffic congestion along Campus Park Drive, where developers want to add another park entrance. County officials, however, rejected that argument and even praised the developer for trying to observe environmental concerns, such as working around environmentally sensitive plants.

“We’re very excited we got it approved and can finally move forward,” Price said.

The course will bring the number of courses in the county to 21, but most of them are controlled by cities.

Oshita said the greatest revenue for the parks department, which operates on a $2.8-million budget, comes from county-owned Soule Golf Course in Ojai and Saticoy Regional Golf Course. The two generate about $365,000 annually. The next biggest moneymaker comes from camping and day-use fees at the county’s 27 parks.

The parks department has fought to stay in the black since a 1996 decision by supervisors to split the parks and harbor departments into separate agencies, depriving county parks of generous fees generated by the Channel Islands Harbor. Since then, staffing in the department plummeted from 32 to 15 and officials have attempted to close a $900,000 budget gap. Park managers continue to wrestle with ways maintain public parks, which traditionally bring in little money but are costly to maintain.

County officials have toyed with several ideas for turning a profit on parklands, including building an amphitheater in Camarillo about the size of the Hollywood Bowl or a massive theme park in Moorpark.

But most of these ideas have been rejected because they either would harm the environment or would cause too much noise and traffic. A golf course, officials say, is the perfect compromise.

“That’s the whole concept,” said Johnston, who, until last week, oversaw the parks department as General Services director. “Finding a balance--so we can provide open space and still generate enough money to support the things that don’t generate money.”

Supervisor Judy Mikels applauded the plan just before she voted to approve it.

“It provides us with a stream of revenue to maintain the upper 3,000 acres of Happy Camp, which everybody knows we’ve been struggling to do,” Mikels said.