Parks Agency Hopes to Mine Greens for Gold

The county is again looking to golf as the hole-in-one for its beleaguered parks system.

The Board of Supervisors is expected Tuesday to ask for proposals to build a 36-hole golf course near Moorpark. Plans for an 18-hole course and a large amphitheater near Camarillo are also being revised to satisfy a judge’s concerns over the projects’ environmental impact.

Those projects, plus 27 more holes planned for a park near Santa Paula, would help cover the parks department’s $1-million annual deficit, county officials say.

“If all three of those were to actually come to fruition, they would probably generate enough money to close that gap five years from now,” said John Johnston, director of the Ventura County General Services Agency.

But environmentalists are concerned about the county’s plan to bring in private developers to fund public parks.

“I do have trouble with the logic that looks to developing each of the county park assets for revenue generation,” said John Buse, an Environmental Defense Center attorney in Ventura.

The EDC and the California Native Plant Society sued the county for failing to address the effect the Camarillo amphitheater and golf course would have on traffic, pollution and wildlife. In October, a judge blocked the projects pending further environmental study.

Johnston said the developers of the amphitheater and golf course are revising their plans to satisfy the court order. The golf course, for example, has been redesigned to prevent runoff into nearby wetlands. The developer of the amphitheater, which was planned for 16,000 seats, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Meanwhile, the county is looking for bidders to build and operate two golf courses on the lower 700 acres of Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park, northeast of Moorpark.

The county would like a private developer to build the courses on the flat portion of the Happy Camp parcel. The rest of the 700 acres would be set aside for picnic areas and horseback riding and hiking trails. The upper canyon, about 3,000 mountainous acres, would not be developed.

This latest request for proposals is not the first time golf has been considered for Happy Camp. Since 1989, two developers have had options to pursue projects that included golf courses. The last option expired in 1996 after the developer could not find an affordable source of water.

Proposals for the Happy Camp project are due in April. A committee will review them and make a recommendation to county supervisors in May, Johnston said.

Still more golf is planned for Toland Park near Santa Paula, pending a study of the project’s environmental impact. A Malibu-based developer, Crumpler & Kruger Real Estate, plans to build an 18-hole regulation course and a nine-hole, par-three course.

From the five golf courses and related facilities, the county would draw a portion of revenues as rent for the land. Johnston estimated that a single course could produce $300,000 to $350,000 annually for the county.

The parks department needs the money. In 1996, county supervisors separated the department from operations at Channel Islands Harbor, which had historically subsidized the system.

Buse lamented that in scrambling for more money, the county is looking beyond the Camarillo park project, which was originally considered “the cash cow that would support the other parks,” the attorney said.

“Until we can come to some sort of countywide agreement that looks at a more rational allocation and use of public parkland,” Buse said, “[this is] going to happen again and again until the last park is developed.”

Johnson said the county identified golf as a possible moneymaker for its parks because of its popularity and park-like setting.

“There’s been quite a show of interest all over the country in golf--the Tiger Woods phenomenon maybe,” he said. Marketing studies show Ventura County could accommodate as many as seven new courses.

But Johnston, who is not a golfer, worries about continued delay.

“So far we’ve got a lot of seeds, but nothing’s growing,” he said. “We’re hoping that we don’t miss the market.”