After three public meetings, official activity on the planned driving range at West Seattle Golf Course is in a lull, according to Seattle Parks’ Garrett Farrell. But local golfers are ramping up their concerns about the most recent proposal (unveiled at the third meeting), which would lead to changes on three holes of the course itself. First, the official update from Farrell:

Parks is evaluating the community feedback to date while gathering better detail on the proposed range and how it fits the site.

A ball trespass study to determine how much netting is required and other pieces that help evaluate costs have arrived in the past month.

I anticipate being back out in front of the community in early 2011 with an update on status.

Now, the latest on concerns. A new “Save West Seattle Golf Course” Facebook page has been set up, urging people concerned about the latest version of the driving-range proposal to contact City Councilmembers and other city leaders. The site includes a version of an open letter sent to WSB by Kurt Niedermeier, who is a member of the West Seattle Golf Club Board, though he stresses his letter is not an official statement on behalf of the board – read on:

Dear Seattle City Council Member:

As I’m sure you are aware, the City has finally started to implement Seattle’s Golf Master Plan which received a final vote from the Park’s Board on April 23, 2009. Despite (former Superintendent) Tim Gallagher’s successful effort to cut $9.4 million from the approved budget resulting in “Option 4B Lite,” many of the most important and desired elements remained intact, one those being a driving range at West Seattle. The golfing community was excited, West Seattleites were thrilled, and everything seemed to be moving forward according to plan, or so it seemed.

WELCOME THE “BAIT AND SWITCH”

During the period between August 4 and October 27, 2010, Paul Wilkinson, the current Director of Golf Operations for the Parks Department, and Garrett Farrell, the Driving Range Project Manager, made a series of design presentations at three publicly held meetings to announce their proposed plan for the new West Seattle driving range. Unfortunately, and quite shockingly, their plan did not include utilizing the space west of hole #9 as identified in the original Golf Master Plan, but instead positions the new driving range on the golf course itself, requiring the complete destruction of three holes: #1, #8, and #9.

Why the relocation? Mr. Farrell sighted “groundwater and soil issues, and a history of instability” that would require far more stabilization to the adjacent hillside than the current budget allows for. While I am not qualified to dispute these reasons, nor the validity of his response, as a City Council member I challenge you to strongly consider the following information, and ask yourself does it really make smart sense to move forward with a project that is being met with so much public criticism and disdain.

ZERO PUBLIC SUPPORT

Golfers and non-golfers alike have overwhelmingly united to express their strong opposition to this project. Redesigning three holes in order to make room for this facility is going to completely destroy the integrity of an iconic golf course that has enjoyed tremendous popularity through the years, has played such an important role in increasing the public’s appreciation and support for green spaces, and carries such great historical significance both for our region and nationally. This new plan, and the decision to put a driving range in the middle of hole #9, is not what the community supported when the Golf Master Plan was first being developed and eventually approved. If the idea had surfaced that the City wanted to build this new facility on the golf course itself, then the community never would have supported it. It is simply a ridiculous notion.

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Upon closer examination of this project, I have to seriously question the research that has led the City to conclude that this new range facility is somehow going to yield the kinds of returns we are used to seeing at Interbay, and to a lesser degree, Jefferson Park. How appealing is West Seattle going to be after you stick a driving in the middle of the course, and change three of its most strategic golf holes? What’s more, where is this new crop of “range rats” expected to come from? What do the revenue projections say given that we will have two City-run driving range facilities within 5 miles of each other?

The reality is, all we’re really going to see is a shift in use. West Seattle golfers, who once frequented Jefferson Park, will now simply stay closer to home. What I don’t see happening is a massive outcropping of new support. The closure of the Southcenter driving range this past year should provide some indication of that. While it is a romantic notion to think that the “_build it and they will come_” philosophy is going to deliver the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, this simply cannot be the primary justification for spending $4 million, but it seems that is exactly what is happening.

BUDGET ISSUES CANNOT BE IGNORED

As it stands today, the West Seattle driving range project is not completely funded and the design team has been unable to arrive at a solution that falls under the current budget.

According to Mr. Farrell the current plan carries an estimated cost of $4 million. The approved budget for this project stops short at $2.5 million. How can the City move forward with a project that is not fully funded, especially during a national economic crisis, and at a time when local and state government-run programs are being cut? Suppose the City is unable to secure additional funding halfway through the project? How much revenue will be lost by having an incomplete golf course? How will voters respond when they learn their civic leaders are responsible for putting in place a plan that was flawed from the beginning?

THERE’S NO GOING BACK

Thinking generationally, how can our government officials justify altering one of the City’s most treasured landmarks?

* West Seattle is recognized as one of the best urban municipal golf courses in the country and offers the City its only championship-style layout.

* West Seattle was designed in 1935 by one of our country’s most celebrated amateur golf course architects, H. Chandler Egan, who in 1929, along with famed golf course architect Allister McKenzie, helped to renovate Pebble Beach Golf Links in Monterey, CA.

* Egan was named to the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame in 1985, and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

* West Seattle is one of only a handful of courses in our State’s history to have hosted a major national golf event: The 1953 United States Public Links Championship.

In the name of historical preservation and honoring a site that has, for almost 80 years, been an icon to a very large segment of our population, I encourage you to review the facts and question if this project is really being done in the best interest of our City. Once something like this is put in place, it cannot be reversed.

Thank you,

Kurt Niedermeier
West Seattle Resident

Again, that is a citizen letter. We haven’t completely fact-checked it but do note that the project budget mentioned on the official city page for the driving-range project is now $3.4 million. As the letter mentions, the previous budget amount mentioned at the last meeting was $2.5 million. Meantime, we’ll be checking with the city for the promised status update after the holidays.