Groups seek to use Carlsbad golf course at discount rate
North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
The course will be competitive with other local courses, including the
Encinitas Ranch course along Leucadia Boulevard, Perry said. …

CARLSBAD — The city’s $70 million municipal golf course is months away from opening, but already requests to use the facility at a discount rate for charity golf tournaments are pouring in.

The course’s new general manager Jeff Perry told the Carlsbad City Council during a workshop session Wednesday that he is receiving three to four requests a week from people seeking donations or looking to book The Crossings at Carlsbad course for fundraising events.

“I try to stay away from that right now because you can get overwhelmed by the causes that are out there,” said Perry, who works for the private corporation that has the contract to manage the course.

The nearly 400-acre golf course site along Palomar Airport Road, just east of the Legoland amusement park, is scheduled to open this summer.

The project has turned out to be at least $50 million more expensive than city officials initially anticipated about a dozen years ago. During Wednesday’s workshop, council members said they were far more interested in how much money the course could generate than in the requests for discount rates.

“Today, discount isn’t in my vocabulary,” Councilman Matt Hall said, adding that he wants the place to start paying off its debts as quickly as possible.

Municipal bonds are covering about $16.6 million of the cost of the project.

The remaining financing has come out of the city’s general fund over the years. The city’s financial director, Lisa Irvine, has said Carlsbad doesn’t expect to recoup all its costs. It’s hoping over time to have $46.6 million of the $70 million repaid over a period of many years, Irvine has said.

During the coming year, the city will only be paying interest expenses on the 30-year municipal bonds, Assistant City Manager Lisa Hildabrand told the council during Wednesday’s workshop. After that, it will start paying down the principle, she said.

Perry said the new draft version of the greens fees should be out next month. The most recent estimates for greens fees, which date from 2003, indicate that the city would charge residents $45 to play Mondays through Thursdays. They would pay $50 on Fridays and $60 on weekends.

Nonresidents would pay $75 on Mondays through Thursdays, $85 on Fridays and $105 on weekends. A golf cart is included in the fees because the course is considered too hilly for most people to walk.

The course will be competitive with other local courses, including the Encinitas Ranch course along Leucadia Boulevard, Perry said. While he was not keen on extremely reduced rates for charity events, Perry said the city may want to offer somewhat discounted tournament rates for weekday periods, particularly afternoon events. That’s likely to be a much slower period than the weekends, he said.

Meanwhile, city special projects manager Skip Hammann reiterated his earlier warning that the course may not open until August if the grass doesn’t grow in as quickly as they hope.

“We’re doing everything we can for a July opening, but the expectation is it may not be until August,” he said.

He urged people to hope for rain in the coming months.