When golfers start flocking to Palo Alto Baylands in late May, they will confront a transformed course, a reconstructed wetlands ecosystem and a new full-service course operator, whose contract the City Council approved Monday night.
The City Council voted 8-0 Monday night, with Vice Mayor Eric Filseth absent, to approve a three-year, $9-million agreement with OB Sports, a firm that will manage Baylands Golf Links when it reopens on Memorial Day weekend.
Despite reservations from several council members about the inherent risks and costs of launching the new course, the council moved to approve the agreement, which will allow OB Sports to handle everything from management of the course and the driving range to operations of the pro shop and restaurant.
For the council, the Monday vote was a key milestone in the reconstruction of the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course, a project that began as an effort to accommodate a levee that had to be relocated to improve flood control. It quickly morphed into a complete redesign -- with all 18 holes relocated -- and a transformation of the largely conventional 1956 golf course (mostly flat and covered in turf) into a links-style course with 40 percent less turf, more slopes and 55 acres of new wetlands.
The reconfiguration project will be financed through bonds, which will be repaid through golfing fees. The city will have to dip into its coffers to pay for water, staff time and utilities, though staff believes that within two years these costs will be more than offset by revenues from the green fees, the restaurant, the driving range and the pro shop.
Mayor Liz Kniss acknowledged the inherent risks of running a golf course, even as she lauded the photos of the new course.
"I'm just hoping it plays beautifully and people will want to go back again and again," Kniss said.
Others shared her excitement about the course, even if some were considerably less enthusiastic about the new contract with OB Sports, which operates dozens of courses including The Golf Club at Moffett Field. Councilman Greg Tanaka suggested that the three-year contract forces the city to assume too much risk, a characterization that staff rejected.
He also questioned the staff proposal to reimburse the vendors who operated at the golf course during the construction period and who, consequently, suffered considerable economic losses. This included a $40,000 agreement with Brad Lozares, who this month concluded his Palo Alto career after 36 years of course management and golf instruction.
The new course will also come with a new fee schedule, which includes discounts for residents and a "dynamic pricing" model in which fees fluctuate based on demand. For Palo Alto residents, the fees will fluctuate between $40 and $60 on the weekdays ($54 to $85 if they're riding carts) and between $52 and $80 on the weekends.
Councilman Greg Scharff said he was pleased with the OB Contract and happy to see the completion of the golf course project.
"I'm really glad we did it," Scharff said. "I think it's going to be a huge success."
Others agreed. Councilwoman Karen Holman, the council's most avid golfer, lauded Lozares for his many years of service and said the project has been a "long time coming." Councilman Adrian Fine congratulated staff and suggested, half-jokingly, that the pricing model employed in the Baylands golf course could be used to deal with other local challenges.
"If we're going to use dynamic pricing for a scarce resource for tee times in the golf course, maybe we should be considering that for parking in some of the commercial areas in Palo Alto," Fine said.
Comments
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Apr 17, 2018 at 9:23 am
on Apr 17, 2018 at 9:23 am
For the city to give away money by forgiving back rent and utilities from the previous operators and then give additional cash on top, without having any obligation to do so, tells me that the tax payers shouldn't bail the city out of the infrastructure backlog.
The city Attorney's response that while the city doesn't have a legal obligation to do this, we should go ahead and waste taxpayer dollars by giving away extra money to for-profit businesses shows how out of touch staff is. If there is extra money we should invest in affordable housing and not give aways to for-profit businesses.
There is no way I will support an infrastructure tax!
Fairmeadow
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:01 am
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:01 am
"For Palo Alto residents, the fees will fluctuate between $40 and $60 on the weekends ($54 to $85 if they're riding carts) and between $52 and $80 on the weekends."
What's the weekday rate?
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:13 am
Registered user
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:13 am
I think the $40-$60 range is for weekdays, not weekends. I'm sure a correction will be made.
Registered user
Palo Alto Weekly staff writer
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:16 am
Registered user
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:16 am
@dlf: The first rate was for weekdays. Sorry for the confusion. I corrected it.
@Gale: So moved.
Downtown North
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:29 am
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:29 am
Fees between $40 and $60 on weekdays. . .is the $40 for Palo Alto residents walking but $54 for including a cart and the $60 for non residents walking but $85 for including a cart?
Crescent Park
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:39 am
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:39 am
[Post removed.]
University South
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:56 am
on Apr 17, 2018 at 11:56 am
Aside from whatever one may think about the contract, was anyone able to follow the incoherent rambling and arguing that Tanaka did with the staff for the better part of an hour? Someone ought to do a transcript of some of it so that the public gets a sense of his blather.
Registered user
South of Midtown
on Apr 17, 2018 at 1:18 pm
Registered user
on Apr 17, 2018 at 1:18 pm
How about a day for a walk through of the new layout? No golfing, just a walking tour.
Is there going to be a day dedicated to Brad and staff where we can say good-bye and thank you for many great years of service?
Midtown
on Apr 17, 2018 at 1:42 pm
on Apr 17, 2018 at 1:42 pm
Will driving range cards be honored that were issued out by the prior group operating the golf course and driving range?
Midtown
on Apr 17, 2018 at 6:39 pm
on Apr 17, 2018 at 6:39 pm
How much did the new golf course cost total over the last 5 years they have been building it??? Count all the lost greens fees at about 3 million a year. Then we the tax payers are paying an additional $9 million to an outside contractor to run the new course we just spent millions on??? How did we pick that outside contractor? Something does not smell right. How does this work. Can someone run the numbers for us??? Remember the old golf course used to make money.
another community
on Apr 17, 2018 at 8:55 pm
on Apr 17, 2018 at 8:55 pm
Baylands golf course will be charging green fees and hopefully be a money maker for the City. Maybe the City should build a large Dog park and charge a use fee so it can be a money maker also
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Apr 18, 2018 at 12:23 pm
Registered user
on Apr 18, 2018 at 12:23 pm
@Observer
Actually, Tanaka asked some very good questions, but it did go on and on too long. He did finally get the city to cough up the bid numbers from the other respondents to the RFP. Mayor Kniss handled the situation very well, polite but firm. The reasons for the selection of OB were explained very well...and the forgiveness of debts owed and settlements with current operators were explained very well also.
It was good to see and hear from Ali Lozares, Brad's wife, at the meeting. All my serious golfing days at Paly were when they were in charge. They are special people who devoted so much to the game and worked hard to meet and know all of us faithful regulars, many on a first name basis.
It was also good to hear that the old team, shop staff and pros, will have a chance to stay on. I am hoping for the best and that that will include Rich and Mark.
Walking the course for free: I suggest that anyone who wants to do that, do it now, before the opening. Any dead time, taken away from paying players after that, will only take away revenue. I hope Karen, a golfer, and Cory, a non-golfer, get that message. Yes, it is a public property, but it is meant and designed for golfers, as a revenue source, not for bikers, joggers, and walkers. And, the golfers pay good money to play via 'green fees'. That's the revenue we all hope for to make this successful. Time and dynamic pricing will tell.
There are so many hiking trails available on other PA properties. Use them. In fact, one of my old favorites is right there. Start at the Interpretive Center (now closed...boo hoo!) then walk past the airport to the end and make a left turn at San Francisquitos Creek and walk all the way back on the dike to Embarcadero Rd and back to the parking lot. Good exercise and all the views of the Bay you might ever want. You will get to see many holes on the new course without even having to go out onto it. Plus Byxbee Park is right there also and another good long hike is on the trail from the end of San Antonio Rd (parking lot) on the levee all the way around to Byxbee Park.
There is another way, however, and one that I took back in the 60's...early 70's. I'd go out to the course in the dark...nobody there, shop not open, restaurant not open...and tee off on #10 to play the back nine early. I'd just guess from my swing where the ball might have ended up on the first couple holes. I usually guessed right and found it. I'd get to see the sunrise...beautiful. Then when I finished on #18 I'd go into the shop, which was open by then, pay my nine hole green fee and go home, eat breakfast, and then go to work at Kaiser Electronics, on Page Mill Road. My golf shoes got soaking wet because of the dew on the grass and the dew on greens made it hard to hit the ball hard enough to get it to the hole. But, for $8 or $9 it provided a lot of cheap fun.
Another observation: It sounded like Karen was the only real serious golfer on CC. Greg Scharff said he might have played 30 rounds in his lifetime, but that he mostly liked the restaurants at the courses. Good for him, and for being a supporter of this project. I wrote a story about my golf experiences for my Life Stories class at Avenidas, and I took the time to count all the courses I've played. The total came to 93, including 45 in California. I also played two in Germany and one in France...so that makes me an international golfer, and an avid golfer, right? I played Paly several hundred times.
Palo Verde
on Apr 19, 2018 at 4:35 pm
on Apr 19, 2018 at 4:35 pm
@Gale, re "Start at the Interpretive Center (now closed...boo hoo!)."
The Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center has completed its renovation and the contents have returned from their sojourn to EPA's Cooley Landing (a nice new venue itself, though quite underutilized). Lucy Evans is currently open limited hours Wednesday through Sunday. Even Google can't keep track of the exact times, let alone Palo Alto's unnavigable city website. The associated boardwalk is in its fifth year of closure, and becoming more doubtful whether either one of us will live long enough to see any progress. Your suggested walk on the levees past the airport and along San Francisquito Creek may be barricaded at some point by ongoing flood control construction. I have not attempted that loop recently.
An earlier golf course article said "nearly half a million cubic yards of soil was brought in" for the reconfiguration. What is that, 25,000 loads? I think each semi trailer of a double-bottom can only carry "the whole nine yards." No wonder I saw so much truck traffic on Embarcadero.