In a two-hour emotionally charged meeting Thursday, the Parks, Recreation and Senior Advisory Board voted to recommend to the Royal Oak City Commission that Normandy Oaks Golf Club remain open for the 2014 season by a 4-0 vote. (Commissioner Mike Fournier, Alex Fike and Amanda Klein abstained from voting.)
The city commission will make the final decision on the fate of the municipal golf course when it meets next on Feb. 17.
More than two dozen people attended the meeting at the Mahany / Meininger Senior Community Center, which also included a discussion regarding selling less used parks. About half participated in public comment.
"We are losing our open space!" said Dave Sims, a 27-year resident. Sims pointed to pointed the wildlife he's witnessed inside the golf course including turtles and deer. "There are wetlands in there."
Sims questioned if the land could even be developed without causing flooding headaches for nearby basements.
"Once green space is gone, it's gone forever," said Joan Koelsch, of Royal Oak. "You never get it back."
Marc Comptios, of Royal Oak, told board members one of the great things about Normandy Oaks is that it is actually affordable for seniors and young people.
"It probably just needs better promotion. We've seen it closed a lot of days and couldn't figure out why," Comptios said.
The issue with Normandy Oaks, according to City Manager Don Johnson, is that the contractor is losing money. The current contract is basically a rental agreement in which $50,000 is paid to the city.
"They are not bringing in enough to cover their costs," Johnson said.
Johnson said the city is very pleased with Joe Spatafore's management with the golf courses. The city receives more compliments from golfers than complaints, he said.
"They're happy, but it's not working for the contractor because he's not making money," Johnson said.
"The big problem with the golf course is the water situation," said Chairperson Todd Meing. "We don't have a way of splitting off the sewers from the water and as a result when they need to water the golf courses it can get into hundreds of thousands of dollars because they are paying for sewers as well."
If the Royal Oak City Commission agrees with the Parks, Recreation and Senior Advisory Board when it meets and keeps Normandy Oaks open, Spatafore would like to renegotiate his contract.
"We have double electric bills, double water bills, double staff bills," Spatafore said, adding that golfers historically prefer Royal Oak Golf Club by a ratio of two to one. "I don't know why, but people like to play Royal Oak more than they do Normandy Oaks," he said.
"The comment that I heard tonight that it seems like (Normandy Oaks) is not open, well we're open it's just that sometimes there are not people there and it looks like we're closed."
Commissioner Mike Fournier said one thing he is considering is whether or not one good nine hole course is better for residents than two mediocre courses.
If Normandy Oaks were closed, it wouldn't mean the green space was going away, Fournier said.
"Could Normandy Oaks could be converted into soccer fields? Do we need to have a cross country ski trail? I understand the position on golf but there competing interests in the city for available park land."
Fournier, Fike and Klein abstained from voting to close Normandy until they had more information on the financials of keeping the course open versus closing it and repurposing the land into some other recreational use.
To sell the course, is a separate discussion and to do so would require the issue go before voters.
Correction: The vote was 4-0.
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