DELRAY BEACH, Florida — Upset residents have called on Delray Beach to overhaul its municipal 18-hole golf course, which, some say, is spotted with bare patches and covered with more weeds than grass.
While city leaders agree that the almost 100-year-old course along Highland Avenue, just west of Interstate 95 and Atlantic Avenue, needs major renovations, the upgrades are estimated to cost more than $10 million. That’s not an easy task, especially for a city that has a nearly $11 million budget deficit.
Yet for those who have griped about the well-worn course for almost a decade, talk about the renovations has stretched on for far too long.
“The golf course is in horrible condition right now,” said former Delray Beach Mayor Jay Alperin. “Although it gets a lot of play, it’s no justification for ignoring the needs of the golf course. As far as I can remember, about eight years now, we’ve been told that there was money set aside in the city budget to fix up the golf course.
“They’ve let it fall apart so badly that it needs almost complete re-grassing. Even the equipment that maintains the course is old and falling apart. By ignoring the issue instead of keeping up with it, they’ve made it worse and more expensive to repair.”
When the city discovered that the drain pipes under the course had to be replaced, the renovations were postponed again.
“It was something that was so sizable that we really had to reevaluate,” Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia said. “You don’t want to put $7 million into a golf course and then be digging it up in another couple of years to replace the infrastructure below.
“The question is, ‘Are we really to the point where that has to be done? Or can we go ahead and do the top of the golf course and then worry about that at a later date? When I say a later date, I mean 10 years or 12 years from now. If that’s the case, let’s get the golf course up and running.”
Delray Beach Golf Club in…
Source : yahoo
