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Minutes 03-24-05 MINUTES OF THE GOLF COURSE ADVISORY COMMITTEE HELD ON THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005 AT 3:00 P.M. IN THE RESTAURANT OF THE LINK'S CLUBHOUSE, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present: Arthur L. Matthews, Jr. Chair Dan Hager, Manager of Golf Operations Herb Suss Scott Wahlin Whalin, Manager of Golf Maintenance William McCarty Freda DeFosse, Manager of Golf Administration Arthur Gabler, City Alternate Corrado P. Giangreco, City Alternate Absent: James Smith, Vice Chair Dan Winters I. Openings A. Call to Order Chairman Matthews called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m. and announced that a quorum was present B. Agenda Approval 1. Additions, Deletions, Corrections Mr. Hager distributed the agendas. Mr. Suss requested that members observe a moment of silent reflection in memory of Tony Rivelli who recently passed away. 2. Adoption Motion Mr. Suss moved to approve the agenda. Motion seconded by Mr. Giangreco and unanimously carried. C. Announcements Mr. Hager would have some announcements that he will announce when he provides his report. Meeting Minutes Golf Course Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, Florida March 24, 2005 11. Minutes A. Minutes of Golf Course Advisory Committee Meeting of October 14, 2004 Ms. DeFosse provided copies of the minutes to the members. Since the minutes were lengthy and were from the October 14, 2004 meeting, it was decided to move to the next item on the agenda to provide members an opportunity to read them. 111. Reports Manager of Golf Operations Report a. April 5 appointment of a new board member to replace Diana Johnson Mr. Hager announced at the April 5 City Commission, the Commission would be appointing a new member to replace Diana Johnson, who resigned from the Committee. Mr. Hager announced the RSVP deadline for the Annual Board Dinner is March 28 The dinner will be held on April 11 at Benvenuto's Restaurant at 6:30 p.m. b. State of the Golf Course (Mr. McCarty arrived at 3:08 p.m.) Mr. Hager reported that October was a difficult month due to the hurricanes. From November 1 through February, the Championship Course was down 951 rounds, which is equivalent to three days of play. He pointed out there was no February 29 this year as well. The Family Course was down 539 rounds. This is consistent throughout the entire county. He felt this was attributable to the retirement community not playing as much golf as they used to. Staff has tried to encourage more play by introducing some events. Staff continues to address this in order to generate more playing time. Some early,times have been opened up. Mr. Hager noted the first starting times are now 6:44 a.m. and 6 :51 a.m. So far these new start times have been successful. Additional starting times have also been added that are successful and Mr. Hager discussed other things they have instituted to increase playing time. For the remainder of March, they introduced "March Madness." An E -mail campaign was sent to the Links Club Card players offering them the opportunity to play the back 9 holes or the front 9 holes after certain times at a cost of $15, as opposed to $23. This has generated some good results. They are targeting 800 people who have a relationship with the Golf Course. 2 Meeting Minutes Golf Course Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, Florida March 24, 2005 Mr. Hager announced they had a promotion offering free breakfast during the months of November and December to golfers playing 9 holes before 8:00 a.m. on the Championship back nine. This was successful and resulted in an additional 122 rounds being played. Mr. Hager did not feel the promotion was a loser and the restaurant fared very well. The Champion Bermuda Green that was installed on the Family Course and the Practice Putting Green were well received and looks great. This still has to be evaluated by Mr. Wahlin Waalin. In order to get the grass to last more than three years requires extensive care and an intensive purification process. Staff hopes the grass will last much longer than three years and will continue to evaluate it. Mr. Whafin Wahlin reported it cost $26,000 to $30,000 for new grass on the Family Course greens. If they had followed past practice, it would have cost over $100,000 and putting in USGA g reens could have cost $250,000. Chairman Matthews inquired if play increased on the Family Course due to the new greens. Mr. Hager reported Family .Course play is down Y 9 g p 500 rounds, but he attributes this to the economy and not to the condition of the greens. They have tripled the events held at the Golf Course in order to increase attendance. Mr. Suss felt the Couple's Night was a great success and everyone had a wonderful time. Discussion took place on various events that could be offered at the Golf Course to increase attendance and playing time. Mr. Hager noted some golf courses have decreased the cost of playing golf after a certain time of the day, but staff has been skeptical in offering this. The Golf Course remains busy, but after 3:00 p.m. playing time decreases. Staff will be addressing this for next season to determine how to increase playing time after 3:00 p.m. Mr. Gabler inquired if . staff ever considered offering babysitting services to entice more families to play. Mr. Hager responded offering this service would result in liability issues for the City. Mr. Gabler requested that this be researched further. Chairman Matthews pointed out schools handle millions of children a day and questioned why the Golf Course could not offer something along these lines. He felt in order to increase attendance, they need to come up with some innovative ideas. Mr. Hager noted staff is looking at Many things that could be introduced. There have been talks to bring in the City League. Mr. Suss noted Aberdeen Golf Course increased their dues and asked if this resulted in additional business for the Links.. Mr. Hager stated it did. Hurricane repairs are moving along. There are still some flood areas that need repair, but all major repairs have been completed. Mr. McCarty inquired about being reimbursed for hurricane repairs. Ms. DeFosse just spoke with the City's Finance Director who informed her they had a meeting with FEMA on Monday and they would be reimbursed 90% for repairs that would come from both FEMA and the 3 Meeting Minutes Golf Course Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, Florida March 24, 2005 State. The City's Finance Director informed her the Golf Course was the first City Department to provide their work orders and paperwork for reimbursement. No date was provided when the funds would actually be received. Mr. WhaI-i-n Wahlin reported on the status of the Golf Course becoming Audubon certified and explained that six criteria must be met to become certified. To date they are certified in three of the criteria. Mr. Hager noted they might bring out all the equipment used at the Links for people to see what equipment is involved in running a golf course. Mr. McCarty recommended that the cost of each piece of equipment be displayed as well, and Mr. Hager stated this was their intent. Chair Matthews thought this was a very good idea in order to show the public what it takes to run a golf course successfully. Mr. Hager reported that the Sweetheart event held on February 14 was very successful and everyone liked it. Chair Matthews noted that Mr. Suss reported on the success of this event to the City Commission at a recent meeting. The Play for Pink Tournament took place last Saturday. Ms. DeFosse was chair of this event and $7,000_, was raised for breast cancer research. Eighty -eight women participated and everyone great Phillips had a reat time. Ms. Sue Philli s and Ms. DeFosse were thanked for efforts on making this event a great success. Ms. DeFosse pointed out this was the fifth year for this event. Mr. Suss recommended next year they hold a St. Patrick's Day event and offer green beer and corned .beef and cabbage. Ms. DeFosse responded they have been talking about doing other holiday celebrations to generate late afternoon play. Mr. Hager reported on the following events and tournaments scheduled for the Links: ➢ On April 1st the Links' first night golf tournament will take place. It will be a City fundraiser consisting of a nine -hole tournament and lighted blewsticks qlowsticks would be used. ➢ The Ladies Golf Association and Men's Golf Association will be having a -orial an inaugural event that has been held for 21 years on Apr 6 th . People will play 9 holes, followed by dinner. ➢ The Concert on the Green featuring Brian Howe, former lead singer with Bad Company will take place on April 16 It is anticipated over 1,200 people will be attending. Holding these concerts is a great way to show off the Golf Course. ➢ May 2 the Links will be holding a PGA sectional senior /junior tournament. This will be the third year for this event. 4 Meeting Minutes Golf Course' Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, Florida March 24, 2005 > May 21 the fourth fifth annual adult/child championship will be held. > For the first time ever, the Women's Amateur Tournament's Sectional for the State of Florida to qualify for the State tournament will take place on June 12 Staff will be pursuing the Executive Women's Golf Association and will be scheduling foursomes after '12 noon on Saturday. > The Palm Beach County Junior Amateur Golf Association tournament will take place on July 11 th . This is the fourth year for this event. The Boynton Beach Junior Championship will take place in October 2005, but no specific date has been selected. d. Park Vista High School Autistic Unit They have ,instituted a program with the Park Vista High School for the Autistic Unit. Six young men are involved in the program and Mr. Hager explained the various activities that take place for the children. There was a very good article in the Sun Sentinel on the program. Mr. Wahlin commended Mr. Hager for doing a wonderful job with these children. e. Golf Course Encroachments Mr. Hager attended a County Commission meeting this morning. One of the issues was a zoning change to allow a builder to put up home sites on 8.75 acres near the 12 hole of the Championship Course. Lake Worth Drainage District that has an easement that borders the Golf Course has stood firm on not allowing the developer use of their easement for construction purposes. They feel the easement is not wide enough and could result in a cave in, plus the liability of flying golf balls. In order to do the project a bridge would have to be built in any event. The developers originally wanted to build 26 home sites, but the people residing at Biltmore Terrace were opposed to this many houses. It was finally compromised that 13 very,expensive homes would be built. The bridge will be constructed without using the Lake Worth Drainage easement near the 4 tee area along Canal Drive that runs east and west. Mr. Hager explained how the ingress and egress to these new homes would be accomplished and asphalt sidewalks will be added as a safety measure since the community would not be gated. Mr. Hager pointed out the developer cannot advertise that the homes would have a golf course view. The reasoning behind this is if the Golf Course decided in the future to put up a wall, these people could sue the Golf Course because it obstructed their view. The name of the development is Boynton Golf Estates. Mr. Hager reported there is an old dump located on a 40 -acre parcel of land on the east side of the E -3 Canal near the third hole of the Championship Course. The dump was closed in 1998; the City installed a low- density liner; and sod was placed on top of the site. Ms. DeFosse distributed the report that Commissioner Ferguson proposed for the project. Mr. 5 • Meeting Minutes Golf Course Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, Florida March 24, 2005 Mr. Hager also noted in order to gain access to this site, they would have to extend Joe deLong Boulevard, move the first and second hole, and build a bridge. It is estimated traffic would increase to 5,000 cars per day and this would now be in addition to the traffic generated from the new High School. Mr. Hager was concerned about the increased traffic a development of this size would have upon the traffic in and around the Golf Course. Ms. DeFosse noted the plan called for 102 units. Chairman Matthews felt most of the people living in the development would be families with children and this would compromise the Golf Course. Ms. DeFosse did not think anything would happen overnight, but recommended the members review Commissioner Ferguson's report. Chairman Matthews was concerned about the potential of a development on the old dumpsite. He requested members read and review it and be prepared to discuss it in more detail at the next meeting. Chairman Matthews felt this Board had a duty and an obligation to ensure that the Golf Course remained intact. Minutes of the Golf Course Advisory Committee Meeting of October 14, 2004 (Addressed out of Order) Members had an opportunity to review the minutes. Motion Mr. McCarty moved to accept the minutes as presented. Motion seconded by Mr. Suss and unanimously carried. IV. New Business - None V. Old Business - None VI. Adjournment There being no fudher business, the meeting properly adjourned at 4:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (April 1,2005)