Glendale is shutting down Glen Lakes Golf Course, at least temporarily.
During an inspection last week, the city found that that the course’s clubhouse — which includes the pro shop and restaurant — and maintenance building are imminently unsafe to occupy, according to a letter city management sent Tuesday to the Glendale City Council.
The golf course, clubhouse and maintenance building will close at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The course, at 55th and Northern avenues, is one of two courses the city owns.
The sudden closure comes after months of council debate on whether to shutter the course for good. The course is costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to operate, and the council is considering selling the land to a developer to build a new neighborhood.
The most concerning safety issues are the roof and electrical problems at both buildings, City Manager Kevin Phelps wrote in the letter. These problems were identified during the city’s last inspection Aug. 30, but they have worsened since, according to Assistant City Manager Tom Duensing.
“The continued exposure to water, coupled with significant rain events, caused the building official to now declare the buildings ‘imminently unsafe’ to occupy,” Duensing said.
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The decision to close the course comes just two weeks after Phelps told the council he thought the city should shut it down for good. The council didn’t come to a consensus on and agreed to talk about it again after city staff could provide more information.
Phelps’ recommendation to sell came with a sense of urgency, but the majority of the council seemed to want to take their time making a decision.
With the city’sdecision to shut down the course, though, the council will be forced to talk about it much sooner than planned.
Phelps told the council in the letter Tuesday that he is adding the item to the Nov. 13 council workshop.
He also said he has directed staff to come up with a plan to temporarily reopen the course. He said it would cost the city about $150,000 to set up a temporary clubhouse in a trailer and $5,000 a month for a generator to run the course’s irrigation system. These costs would need to be approved by the council.
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Jane Bachmann, a co-leader of Save Glen Lakes, a resident group trying to stop the council from shutting down the course for good, said she doesn’t support the temporary closure.
Bachmann said she went on the inspection of the course with city staff last week and, while she saw the maintenance concerns, it wasn’t clear what had changed since the last inspection or why the course had to be closed immediately.
Reach reporter Jen Fifield at [email protected] or 602-444-8763. Follow her on Twitter @JenAFifield.
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