OCEANSIDE
Hotels? A convention center? An office complex? Maybe even a better golf course.
All of those are ideas that have been put forward for the future of the Center City Golf Course, 75 prime acres of city-owned land just east of Interstate 5 and north of Oceanside Boulevard.
DETAILS
Center City Golf Course workshop
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Oceanside Senior Citizens Center, 455 Country Club Lane
Purpose: Discuss the future of the golf course
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On Thursday evening, the public will have an opportunity to tell the city what should be done with the property. Officials with the city planning department will hold a public workshop at the Senior Citizens Center.
Unless the property remains a golf course or parkland, voters will determine the fate of whatever proposal the City Council eventually endorses.
Oceanside is spending up to $50,000 to hire a Los Angeles consultant, Economic Research Associates, to help plan what to do with the land. The course opened in 1950 as the nine-hole Oceanside Carlsbad Country Club and was taken over by the city in 1975. A subsequent leaseholder, Ludwig Kuehn, expanded it to 18 holes.
It's one of the least expensive golf courses in the area, and city officials have often suggested that the land could be put to more lucrative use.
Last year, the San Diego Chargers considered building a football stadium on the property, but the Chargers and the city ended negotiations.
Some city officials still have visions of an office complex on the land – something that would have been part of the Chargers proposal.
Louis Keller, who holds the lease to operate the golf course through 2012, said recently that he is willing to hire a course designer and spend $3 million to $5 million fixing up the place. In return, he wants a 25-year lease.
Deputy City Manager Mike Blessing said this week that the consultant's scope will be somewhat limited and that a new master plan will not emerge yet. The financial implications of various options for the land will be outlined and a report will be prepared for the City Council, he said.
Lola Sherman: (760) 476-8241; lola.sherman@uniontrib.com
