Golf Proposal Is Out of Bounds

Last Sunday, The Times published an interview with Michael Hurdzan, a prominent golf course architect. He is a major proponent of working the local topography and flora into his courses, rather than placing them on graded substrate.

It is unfortunate Thousand Oaks has wasted this talent on an ill-conceived proposal for Hill Canyon. The wrong place for a golf course, Hill Canyon deserves to be integrated into Wildwood Regional Park instead of becoming a limited-access playground for those willing to pay a greens fee.

Surprisingly undisturbed, Hill Canyon lies between Rancho Conejo Boulevard and Santa Rosa Road. Apart from Thousand Oaks’ sewage treatment plant, it houses a marvelous variety of habitat types. Riparian vegetation, oak woodlands, coastal sage, grasslands and spectacular scenery are found there, along with one unexpected component, solitude. All within the city limits of Thousand Oaks.

The city of Thousand Oaks proposes to replace this gem with an 18-hole golf course. To give the appearance of environmental sensitivity, Mr. Hurdzan designed it. The purpose of the golf course is to provide revenue for the city’s parks.

When I first heard of this project I believed it was a good idea. I changed my mind when I saw the draft environmental impact report for the project. The document reads like a primer for destroying the very resources the project claims to protect.

The majority of the course is to be put in the undeveloped canyon, while abandoned farmland at the mouth of the canyon is to be used for unspecified wetland mitigation and public parkland. The current recreational users of Hill Canyon would be shunted onto a trail to be cut into the hillside, to bypass the canyon floor and avoid interfering with golfers.

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The proposed project would have a multitude of detrimental impacts. Among the most significant impacts would be the potential increase in flooding of prime agricultural lands downstream of Hill Canyon. Fill will be placed so all tees, fairways and greens within the canyon lie above the flood plain. This will constrict water flow and increase flow rates, exacerbating downstream erosion and flooding.

Downstream landowners might try to remedy this problem by hardbanking their portion of the Arroyo Conejo, but this only repeats the problem downstream from them. An excellent illustration of this process can be seen at the Hill Canyon Sewage Treatment Plant, where hardbanking above the bridge to the plant increased erosion below the bridge during the latest rains.

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People choose to live in Thousand Oaks for many reasons: the cost of housing, quality of the school system, low crime rate and an advertised access to open space. A golf course may increase the value of any future housing built adjacent to it, but it reduces recreational opportunities for the majority of Ventura County residents.

Few cities are well-known because of their scenic golf courses. The majority of golfers care about the availability of tee times, greens fees and improving their handicap, not scenery.

The Thousand Oaks City Council should reject this proposed golf course. Instead, the city should formally designate Hill Canyon a part of Wildwood Regional Park. Doing so would benefit all of Thousand Oaks and Ventura County. It would be a testament to civic pride and a desire to grant a legacy to future generations.

If a golf course is deemed necessary to finance the operation of parks in Thousand Oaks, build one using Mr. Hurdzan’s principles elsewhere, where it may improve the environmental quality of a site, not squander an irreplaceable resource like Hill Canyon.