Council to Consider Driving Range Deal

The City Council on Tuesday will consider whether to hire a contractor for $677,000 to rebuild and fence off the driving range at the city’s Los Robles Greens golf course, the target of a lawsuit by a neighboring landowner.

City finance officials are recommending that the council hire the lowest bidder, Environmental Golf/Valley Crest Landscape of San Fernando. The two closest bids were $693,773 from Superior Golf Construction and $763,340 from Thomsen Landscape.

Environmental Golf has also agreed to an engineering reduction totaling $48,000, which would bring the contract down to $629,000, the city’s most recent estimate of what the work would cost. That figure is still twice the city’s original estimate.

The 32-year-old Los Robles Greens has attracted more than 800,000 players over the last eight years, making it one of the most popular golf courses in Southern California.

Thousand Oaks has been forced to relocate Los Robles Greens’ driving range in response to a lawsuit by an adjacent property owner who says he was knocked unconscious by a golf ball.

As a result of the suit, the city must ensure that no golf balls land on the neighboring office building, which means it must also put up large fences. And the relocation will require that the course’s ninth hole be rebuilt.

The entire Los Robles Greens course will soon undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation. In recent years, the course has brought in $250,000 to $500,000 annually in revenue for Thousand Oaks.

The City Council recently decided not to hire Arnold Palmer Golf Management Co., the lowest bidder, to run the course, choosing Camarillo-based M.F. Daily Investments instead. The course’s previous operator, Angelo Ruggiero Inc., will continue to help M.F. Daily run the course.