Selling Pine Valley is a short-sighted decision for par-three reasons.
Tee shot:
Mayor Shari Green points to declining numbers of golfers to help make her case that the city should get out of the golf business.
While that may be true, the city is also getting older, too. An aging population will be attracted to Pine Valley for several reasons: it's a short, walkable course; it's cheap to play and it's in the middle of the city. The pensions of the city's growing segment of retirees will decide whether they take an annual membership at one of the big courses or whether it's smarter (and healthier) to chip away at little Pine Valley.
Demographics are on Pine Valley's side, in the short and long-term.
Furthermore, should the decline in numbers for other minor sports be held against them?
As Jason Peters noted in his column last Friday, local fastball's numbers are in free fall. If that's the mayor's logic, better hang up the "For Sale" sign on Spruce City Stadium right now.
And what's the expansion of the Kin Centre for, other than the 2015 Games, if minor hockey is starts having trouble keeping kids in hockey?
Green's off in the rough with this argument.
Chip shot:
Friends of Pine Valley are hosting a rally tonight at the golf course as part of their ongoing effort to stop city council from selling the land, following one of the recommendations of last year's all-but-worthless core review.
It's safe to say Coun. Cameron Stolz won't be at the rally, if his Facebook post on Sunday is to be believed.
It reads: "One of the Core Review recommendations is that the city should consider selling off land that it currently owns. In doing so, the city will have an injection of one time capital dollars, and then ongoing operating dollars (from the taxes paid on the land and whatever is built on the land). Pine Valley will require significant capital money ($1.3 million) to be spent on it in the next couple of years to replace it's sprinkler system and infrastructure. Further, it currently generates no money to the city. (The current sales are below the amount where the private contractors revenue is shared with the city). From my perspective, it makes sense to sell the land. Thoughts?"
Stolz's logic is as faulty as the mayor's. Pine Valley is zoned as park land and it is not the job of park land to be generating revenue to the city. If it is, then the city better sell Fort George Park to a developer eager to put some excellent riverview lots on the market. Furthermore, Connaught Hill Park would make for an excellent residential gated community with superb views of the city.
And wouldn't selling Pine Valley for residential and commercial land flood the market with those kinds of properties, devaluing what's already out there?
The investment Stolz mentions is no worse than the money the city spends to keep Four Seasons Pool, the Coliseum, the Aquatic Centre and CN Centre in operation.
Putt: The Friends of Pine Valley have put in an incredible amount of work to save the course after it was devastated by the mountain pine beetle. Volunteers have planted thousands of seedlings and cleaned up the course. This group is not a fly-by-night political advocate - they were working to save and improve the course long before they found out they had to start lobbying to save the actual land from being sold from under their feet.
Many municipalities own small par-3 golf courses to keep the game affordable and accessible to the broader community. Private golf courses, particularly the bigger and more challenging operations, appreciate a public par-3 courses like Pine Valley because that's where their future customers learn to play and learn to love the game.
(Full disclosure: I play Pine Valley at least five or six times each season (already twice this year) and I signed the petition last year to save the course.)
