Aspiring golfers in Prince George may need to find a new place to learn the game.
City council voted Monday night to ask staff for a report to sell off the land for the Pine Valley course in order to raise money and increase the city's tax base.
"I wish there was magic pill that would allow all these things to work out, I just don't see it," Coun. Cameron Stolz said, before council voted 6-1 in favour of pushing forward with getting more information on the sale.
Coun. Brian Skakun was the only one to oppose the motion. Coun. Garth Fritzell was absent.
Mayor Shari Green said she believes the "writing is on the wall" with the project and expects staff to present a report at some point in the future with how the city will be able to proceed with the sale.
The Friends of Pine Valley made an impassioned plea to save their course, which they said is affordable and the most accessible in the city because of the lack of hazards and the relatively flat terrain.
"It's a jewel in our community," Don Chamberlain said during his presentation to council.
There will still be an opportunity for the course to be saved. For instance Coun. Lyn Hall said he voted in favour of moving the process forward, but he's not yet convinced the course should be sold.
Skakun was most vigorously opposed to the sale, saying there's a need to increase the park inventory in the city, not reduce it. He said there are hundreds of city properties which can be sold and it's not fair for Pine Valley to be first on the list given by the hard work from volunteers to keep the course running.
"Pine Valley is being made the scapegoat," Skakun said. "It's the easy way out to make a quick buck and that's wrong."
The city, using figures provided by the KPMG core review report as well as recent land sale data, estimate that the 40 acres the course sits on will generate about $17 million if it's broken up into smaller pieces.
However it's not known how long it would take that sale to be completed and when the city would get that money. The annual property taxes generated by those businesses could top $300,000 a year.
Coun. Frank Everitt said more information is needed before any sale could go forward.
Chamberlain suggested that the course could be remodelled and a driving range installed to help raise more revenue and make the course more viable. He pointed to the early 2000s when a driving range on the site helped the club turn a profit of upwards of $90,000 a year.
Coun. Dave Wilbur said revenue from a golf course isn't certain due to the waning popularity of the sport.
Council also voted to proceed with staff reports for all the recommendations from the KPMG core review approved at a committee of the whole meeting, including reducing the size of council and finding third party operators for the Four Seasons pool and the Civic Centre.
Also Monday, the Coast Inn of the North was granted approval to open a liquor store on the ground floor of its downtown hotel.
The company had been granted a temporary use permit in 2010 to open the location, but manager Joey Beltrano said "lack of leadership and lack of stability of leadership" at the company caused the delay.
Stoltz and Coun. Albert Koehler both opposed the motion, but for different reasons.
Stotlz was concerned about how the hotel has been managed in recent years and wished the company would have opened the store during the period covered by the temporary permit to prove it would be a good corporate citizen. Koehler's opposition was more on principle, he felt another liquor store downtown would be bad for the community.
The rest of council supported the motion, but Hall said he will be reminding the Coast managers in early 2013 that they made the commitment to open the store
The Croft Hotel was granted an extension of the hours it can serve alcohol, it will now allowed to be open until 3 a.m.
Council tentatively moved ahead with a new downtown pay parking scheme, but asked city staff to make sure they weren't tied to the price tag for the project.
