Pine Valley Supporters Fight to Keep Golf Course
Monday, December 3, 2012 @ 3:59 AM
Prince George, B.C.- The Friends of the Pine Valley Golf Course, are not about to give up without a fight.
The Committee of the Whole has asked Council to recommend that Staff look at what needs to be done to, as Councillor Stolz remarked, “Cut our losses on Pine Valley and turn this property into a tax generator.”
The Core Review idea under consideration is to end the golf activities at this course and get the site ready for sale and development. The sale and development could bring another $10 – $17 million dollars to the City’s coffers.
The Mayor asks “Should we be in the golf business?” and points out the demand for golf can be met by the private sector.
But the Friends of Pine Valley say such is not the case. As they did in January of 2010, when Council, (including those who are still on Council today supported the Pine Valley course) The Friends of Pine Valley will be spelling out what makes Pine Valley special . They say it’s positive factors make it more desirable for those just learning the game, and seniors who find a rolling hill course a little too physically demanding. They also point out the community involvement since January of 2010 has seen the undertaking of rejuvenation projects which included planting in excess 6800 seedlings, 180 mature trees and a variety of plants and shrubs.
While there has been a suggestions Pine Valley be reduced to 9 holes, the Friends of Pine Valley say such a move would ensure the demise of the course.
The Friends of Pine Valley are calling on Council to seize the opportunity presented by the Core Review “opportunity # 135” which calls on the City to improve marketing and operations to increase revenue sufficient to cover the capital investments required”.
The group also says developing a long term plan for the golf course could encourage a long term public-private operation rather than the short term contracts now offered to operate the course.
Comments
*What is the city thinking another car lot?
* We already have no down town to speak of, well I retire here, not leaving us a lot of choice, if golf is a daily summer activity.
*being somewhat of a beginner golfer i feel unwelcome at the larger courses. (PG)
*prince George is turning into one ugly town with nothing to do.
Put a new golf course down town.
I think there is a bigger picture here. Whether you think the city should be in the golf course business or not. This excuse is just a smoke screen in my opinion. The city is in the baseball, soccer, hockey, swimming, etc business if you are to look at it that way because those sports also are subsidized to a degree by the taxpayers. So if this precedent is set, what is going to stop the city from taking all those assets and simply using that same excuse to either sell them to private ownership or have those facilities contracted out to outside interests, for very little benefit of the local peoople other than a few taxes collected?
Sell the lot and put it towards City debt.
And then there’s the law of unintended consequences. I’m guessing the average senior who uses that course probably has say $30,000 a year in pension income.
The city, assuming an interest rate of 4%, can reduce annual interest cost by $680,000. If 23 seniors who play that course get p’d off and move away, the same amount of money will be out of the local economy.
Now, I understand that all the seniors income doesn’t go to the city, but when you consider the multiplier effect of their income, how many seniors can you afford to lose before your restaurants, service businesses, etc, disappear, and the related tax revenue they give to the city.
I don’t know the number, but has anyone considered the more unlivable your town is, the fewer who want to live there, and with the inverted population curve, seniors are almost an industry in themselves. Besides, five minutes after they sell it, they’ll be building a PAC with the proceeds anyway and we’ll still have 17 million in debt, and no golf course.
But, has a good point.
I think we do need a golf course like pine valley. maybe one behind the exhibition grounds. I think even if it is just a nine holer, it will be fine. Don’t leave the community with out a public golf cousrse!
Sell the land, never, lease it out for 20 years, own the building at the end of the lease. In the mean time, you have collected the lease and taxes.
Ski50 makes am good point. Our home is up for sale.We have had it.
Cheers
One thing that KPMG failed to do with their report was justify the amounts that the city could save by cutting facilities. The PGGCC tried to sell their golf course for $14 mil. but eventually the deal fell through. This property has exposure to two major highways and is considerably larger than Pine Valley, yet no takers. KPMG claim that the city could sell Pine Valley, a property with no major exposure to highways, and considerably smaller for $10-$14 mil. Do they have a buyer in mind? The city already removed a major source of revenue by selling the driving range. As was already mentioned, the city is into the sporting community, with several venues throughout the city, where do they stop?
“They paved paradise to put up a parking lot”
Selling Pine Valley will be a quick short term fix, and then we will be in debt again.
what johnny said. Sell it and pay down the debt. Its prime land and makes no money. The argument of the city being in the hockey or soccer business so why not golf is off base. I don’t see any private hockey rinks or swimming pools.
It’s a terrible course. Sell the land!
Following Pareto’s Law (80/20 Rule) that 80% of the city’s revenue comes from 20% of it’s tax base.
It would seem logical to identify the 20% of the city land that is the most valuable and has the potential to be partly responsible for generating 80% of the city’s revenue. If city managed property can’t achieve this, then we should look at the alternatives.
Prince George is a pretty sports minded city. I am not suggesting getting rid of golf downtown, but maybe relocating the course. Behind the Kin Centers is flat.
Why not try and sell the so-called community energy system where we pay 12 dollars for a gigajoule of energy vs. the 7 dollars it would cost if we didn’t have the energy system.
Sell all of the land the city owns in the dump they call downtown.
Stolz and the rest of city council are just unbelievably narrow minded.
It is amazing so many incompetent people could be elected to office at one time.
Without knowing what is in store for the Pine Valley Golf Course lands after a potential sale, the people of PG have no ability to decide if they support the transaction or not.
It’s easy to say “just sell them” but who is going to buy them and what are they going to do with them? More empty subdivision lots? A spectacular new car lot? A nice hotel development? A giant pawn shop? A mixed use area of commercial, residential and parkland?
What are the plans? Or, do the mayor and council simply buy into the simpleton view of “selling land for a quick pocket full of cash is good and holding onto assets until they can be developed for the maximum benefit of the city is bad”? I’m guessing it’s the former.
Given PG’s history, a quick flip of those lands will do nothing but ensure that the city is left with yet another blown opportunity and a sub standard legacy development left in its place. Yipee!
Without a financial audit of all the city facilities, who’s to know how much money is being lost or gained. Maybe Pine Valley is operating in the black. Can the same be said of the Library,the Art gallery, CN Center or the tax relief to PGGCC.? What benefit have we received from the Airport runway or the Bypass road. The downtown energy system, money up in smoke!! Now the city wants to spend over a million dollars to collect a 25 cent parking fee? The inmates are running the asylum. These are a few of the reasons why we are over $100 mil. in debt, not by buying golf balls.
It was just a year and a half ago Sheri Green and her puppet Cameron Stolz were trying to get an additional hockey arena built, while mayor Dan was on vacation. Just like Sheri used to support free downtown parking.
They are fickle because a new idea just popped into their heads. Verballabel is right. Broke again in one year. They may as well spend our money at the casino.
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