Sunday. June 14, 1998 — North Shore News - 3 THE COLOR OF MONEY AT NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT'S PUSLIC GOLF COURSE North Martin Millerchip News Reporter miller@nsnews.com THE greens at Northlands Golf Course have been ringed with financial hazards ever since the idea for a truly public North Vancouver District course was first teed up in 1986, As the sod settles on Northland’s fabulous fairways, North Vancouver District can be proud of one of the most challenging public courses in the Lower Mainland. But at what cost? A recent report from course man- ager Laurie Craddock pins the actual capital cost of Northlands at $13.5 million, almost double the 1989 esti- mated cost of $7 million. Time and inflation wait for no construction project and the site, dif- ficult enough in the first place with its rugged mountainside terrain, offered larger than expected rack, water and drainage problems. Looking back over the 11-year history of the site it's perhaps unfair to compare the various and widely- ‘varying financial estimates of the process — the size and complexity of the planned layout changed so many | times you’d need a golf cart to lug all the paper around. , What's a little murky, rather like a seen but unreachable golf bali in a water hazard, is just what costs have 2+, been assigned to the golf course and ‘. whether ail of them have come out of the district’s Heritage Fund. The Heritage Fund was created _, with moncy: collected from the sale of municipal land. Accrued interest from the fund is meant to fnance future capital projects in the district -— but that assumes the capital remains in the fund untouched or generates interest when taken out. Right now, what’s on the record is that the golf course owes the ” Heritage Fund much of what is sup- posed to be in the fund — almost $11.2 million advanced during con- struction by order of council in 1994 and 1995, and $600,000 in interest to date for a total of $11.8 mitlion. But ‘the council motion that approved the Heritage Fund with: drawal is fuzzily worded. It states in part that “the Northlands Golf Course project be funded from the Heritage Reserve to the extent of the golf course operation’s ability to repay the Reserve...” Does this mean that if the golf course doesn’t have the ability to repay the loan it doesn’t have to? And if so, does that mean council .. shouldn’t have Joaned the course “more than it can repay from its oper- ational revenue? _- Mayor Don Bell is already on record as agreeing that the 1994 in- camera motion needs clarification. The motion gocs on to say that additional - funding: requirements » shall be provincial grant monies and money from the Tax Sale Lands Reserve Fund. That would be the difference berween the $11.2 million advanced trom the : Heritage Fund and the $13.5 million in actual capital costs. So how much of that $2.3 million was grant money and how much came out of the Tax Sale Lands Reserve Fund? The question is imporrant only because “money from the Tax Sale fund docs not have to be repaid. Or, ia other words, it was a grant from the tax payers to the golf course. '=_. The News has so far been unable to ascertain from district hall whether the costs of the three approved consultant studies for Northlands and the consider- able monies allocated to the district’s planning staff are included in any of the above figures or not. If not, they’ve already been paid by the taxpayer. There were other hidden casts to the taxpayer in Northlands, too. The 121 acres comprising the golf course sit in the middle of what was once Janned 300-acre netghborhood that included parks, schools, trails and 0 . The staff costs for that plan were never itemized and the value of lands “originally dedicated to housing and given over to golf continue to be argued. Northlands was the rather large straw that broke Kai Kruechen’s back. After “he resigned from his job as district planner he went on record decrying the municipality’s habit of hiding an annual tax deficit of some $10 million to $15 ion by selling off its land bank. Martin Millerchip if he’s lucky. munity and arts organizer.) Perseverance a hallmark of golf society and its founders News Reporter miller@nsnews.com DON Davis knows insurance. As a golfer, however, he’s a self-confessed “hacker,” playing all of five times a year In October, 1986 he attended a Chamber of Commerce luncheon where he happened to pass the remark that three out of the top five bedroom communities of Vancouver didn’t have a municipal golf course. In his words “the table exploded.” “I came back ro my office and forgot about it until about six weeks larer Anne Macdonald burst into my office.(Now deceased, Macdonald was a North Vancouver school trustee and fong-time com- “If you knew Anne, you knew when she was onto something. All of her sails were up and her gunports were open. ‘What have you done about that golf course,’ she said. I laughed and said ‘Nothing’ and her response was a very firm ‘Well, let’s get busy and do something.” So we sat down and picked people who knew how to get things done.” So began the North Shore Public Golf Course Society and the 11- year effort to ensure that the original dream of accessibility to a public municipal course that pays its own way remained alive. Later this year the Society will unveil a plaque in the Northlands ers. clubhouse commemorating the founding members of the society. The road to the clubhouse already bears Macdonald’s name. nd’s greens NEWS photo Cindy Goodman ONE of the more impressive features of the $13.5-million Northlands Golf Course is the man-made waterfall on the fourth fairway. The North Vancouver District course opened in late 1996. Labeling the golf proposal as “oflen- sive,” Kreuchen told council in 1993 that “Northlands is the fast available area to build a mode? neighborhood” and estimar- ed that district taxpayers would subsidize the golf course to the tune of $100 million. But North Shore Public Golf Course Society (NSPGCS) members Don Davis and Bill Ryan dismiss such nay-saying out of hand. They argue that the golf course has sub- stantially increased the value of the land around the course and that such a capital gain could be applied to reducing rhe prin- cipal owed ro the Heritage Fund. Addidonaliy, Ryan would like to know for certain that costs associated with devel- oping adjacent municipal land, like the playing fields, were never included in the costs attributed to the golf course. Also, asks Ryan, what happened to the money made from selling the timber rights before the land was cleared: revenue he estimates that could have gone as high as $800,000? Meanwhile they vow to continue the tight co keep green fees down to the $40 level even though the course is without a driving range and a large golf shop — both originally projected to be revenue produc- Conversely, course manager Craddock says Northlands may not be able to turn its always-promised profit with green fees as high as $47. He would preter to set the peak summer rate at $49.87 (including GST). Davis, Ryan and NSPGCS president Brent Mitchell claim there are savings to be made since Northlands is over-staffed and $200,000 too rich in its mainte- nance budget when compared to courses such as Furry Creck They have also asked the Northlands Advisory Committee to consider the Je of volunteer course marshals who would work in exchange for golf access. Mitchell recently asked council to consider lowering what is owed the Heritage Fund from $11.8 million to an even S10 million, and also lengthening the amortization period to 35 years so that future golfers would essentially pay their share of the high startup costs. Davis is opposed to the concept of higher green fees tor non-locals, pointing out that, North Shore residents never paid more when they went elsewhere for their golf before the opening of Northlands. Instead, he and Ryan still believe a driving range would make money for the course and suggest one could be built in the area of the seventh tee/sixth green/fourth green if some land could be obtained from Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Blair Rifle lands. They even dream of another “exec- utive” nine-hole course. built adjacent to Northlands in conjunction with CMHC. . Meanwhile, NSPGCS continues to fundraise for its school golf program that sees children learning from young pros with cut down clubs and whifile balls. The next generation of golfers will soon be playing Northlands. The Northlands Saga ‘Opening Rounds’ 1986 © idea lloated for a0 18 4ole municipal course. 1989 © Worth Shere Public Golf Course Society (HSPECS} tormaed. © Cooneil approves gotl egurse review commit- tee and a $20:800 consultant study to exam- ine the need and three NSPBCS proposals. © NSPGCS seates down its 125-acre propssal to 84 acres with a projected cest cf $7 mit- Tins and hoses for a 1991 opening. © The district's Advisory Planning Commission Slams the Horthlands comse proposal as “comirary to the poblic interes! and the long graced ol eomratve comimenny paring” 990 sionship couse witha sovits ol ees wary- ing the effective length frat § 200-6, 808 - Hentaye Reserve ‘ © $5,501,000 appropriated from Hertage fi , bhouse aad parking lot for 157 statis (down fama the 280 proposed in eening ° heats ef the removal ofthe diving range ~ anda large sparts shop). © Proposed that the couse be muricipally stated _ Wi food and beverage services conbacted - ut Gieen lees of $42 plus GST proposed. ©. Council approves $18.50 as the sate or a ceraporarytine-hole round. © Fist fine holes open far play. co Wortlands Golf Coutse Advisory Committee created oo 1897 © Council sets grees fees of up to $40 includ- ing GST. Stall report Supgesis $45 60 neces- cee, | ; ©. RSPGES seeks rele ftom load repayments 1a the Hevitage Reserve’ and challenges Coutse maintenance Gtidgel in ao efforts keen green fees down.