It's shaping up to be a busy city council meeting Monday night.
Liquor licences, the core services review and that recent trip to China are on the agenda.
Not on the agenda but looming over the proceedings will be the matter before the courts between Northern Development Initiatives Trust and a group of prominent city investors over land assembled around the P.G. Hotel as part of an effort to get the long-talked-about Wood Innovation Centre built on the block previously anchored by the P.G. Hotel.
Another item on the agenda is the Pine Valley golf course.
In its core services review report, consultant KPMG said the city could pocket between $14 million and $17 million if it sold the land. The city should "strongly consider terminating the operation of Pine Valley as a golf course and develop appropriate options for its sale and development," KPMG wrote, adding that there are $1.3 million in course upgrades needed by 2015 for the golf course, as it stands now, to continue to operate.
The Friends of Pine Valley will be on hand Monday night, urging council to disregard KPMG's recommendation.
This group will argue that the city already subsidizes other civic facilities that encourage exercise, health and community building, such as the swimming pools and hockey arenas, so why not Pine Valley? The course is used heavily by schools to introduce the game to youngsters and adults looking for a low-impact form of exercise that's also good for socializing are drawn to golf on the short and flat confines of Pine Valley.
Parents are often spotted on the course, spending time with their kids and teaching the game.
Late this past summer, I stood on the fifth tee and watched a dad with his young son as they prepared to hit from the nearby seventh tee.
At 96 yards, the seventh hole on Pine Valley is the shortest on the course, made even shorter by the fact it's slightly downhill.
The boy, best guess about four or five years old, had one of those little kid drivers nearly as big as he was.
He placed the ball on the tee, wiggled his feet around as he lined up the club face with the ball and then took his best swing.
In a beautiful arc, the ball landed on the green and finished about 20 feet or so from the pin.
And then, just to show it was no fluke, he did it again, except his second shot rolled on him when it landed, finishing about 50 feet away but still on the green.
Dad's tee shot ended up roughly between his son's first and second tee shot.
Full disclosure: my tee shot that day on the 152-yard fifth hole hooked right (I'm a lefty so I do that all the time) and finished off the fairway around some stumps about 30 yards back and to the side of the green.
My only excuse is I didn't swing my first golf club until I was in my 20s and I've only been playing regularly for the last three years. And I've never taken lessons.
Never mind the fact that I love telling that story to other golfers. The father and son will always have that shared experience between them of that time at Pine Valley. The boy, once he grows up, will always remember Pine Valley as the place where his dad taught him this great game and where he first became good at it.
The Friends of Pine Valley are arguing that moments like these are worth saving and that the long-term payoff justifies the city's continued investment in the little golf course.
It's an emotional, heartfelt argument against a powerful, financial incentive.
For mayor and council, they will likely boil it down to great times with friends, family and classmates don't pay the bills, so closing down the course and selling the land is necessary.
That will be a sad day not just for golfers, but for the whole community.
