Panel Seeks Details on Golf Plan at Pierce

A Pierce College advisory board Tuesday voted to continue reviewing developers’ plans to build a golf course and golf education complex on a section of college farmland.

The Pierce College council voted 14 to 3 to allow development partners Chang Ahn and Tom Riley to bring them a more detailed proposal.

Riley told the council that the project would benefit the college in more than monetary ways, by creating awareness of the Woodland Hills campus among golfers and providing West Valley residents with a place to play.

The preliminary proposal calls for a PGA-certified Golf Education Center, which would include a driving range, chipping area, putting area and two fairways with four greens.

The driving range would be located at Victory Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue, and the clubhouse and golf course--which could have from one to 18 holes--would be at Victory Boulevard and De Soto Avenue.

The proposal also calls for a program to teach hotel and resort management, horticulture, greens maintenance and instruction of the game. The golf course and the driving range would be open to the public for a fee.

Administrators have said that leasing the land to a developer would be a way to limit the college’s reliance on the Los Angeles Community College District for funding.

Developers said that because the plan is in a preliminary stage, revenues that might be given to the college were unclear, with estimated figures ranging from $250,000 to $1.2 million a year.

Farm supporters and agriculture department officials packed the meeting room to show support for keeping the farm, and by extension the agricultural program, just as they are.

But several council members warned that if the college does not determine a viable future for the farmland soon, the district will probably sell the land.