The city is considering replacing the clubhouse at the De Bell Municipal Golf Course as well as building an upper deck of driving range tees and a new parking lot.
Plans call for the new clubhouse to be about 18,000 square feet, which would be about 2,300 square feet bigger than the existing facility. It would be built on the parking lot in front of the driving range, and a replacement lot would be built at Walnut Avenue and Lockheed View Drive.
Adding an upper deck to the driving range would mean there would be about 40 tee spots, compared with the existing 21. To prevent too many golf balls from being hit out of the range, the city is considering requiring golfers who use the upper deck to use only iron clubs.
A community outreach meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the clubhouse, 1500 E. Walnut Ave., to get input on the plan.
The clubhouse, built in 1970, no longer meets Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility standards, said Deputy Parks Director Jan Bartolo.
"It's kind of (past) its prime. Been there, done that, and it's kind of time to come back to current" standards, Bartolo said.
The clubhouse also does not meet code requirements for earthquake safety, and it has problems with asbestos and lead paint, said Phillip Clifford, capital projects manager.
A preliminary estimate put the cost of the entire project at $8.7 million, but that estimate was done before a recent spike in construction costs, Clifford said.
But Brendan Niemann, 27, of Studio City said the clubhouse should not be torn down.
"They can't because they filmed 'Caddyshack' here," Niemann said. "It's got a classic touch to it."
Other golfers on Tuesday welcomed the idea of a new clubhouse. "It's pretty old and trashed," said Rick Fry, 37, pastor at Media City Church. Fry, who golfs at the course every week, said he also supports the planned renovation of the driving range.
"If they do a double-decker, that would be good. And maybe straighten it out because (the range is) uphill," he said.
But Emilie Pallos, a graphic designer from Glendale, said double-decker driving ranges have acoustic problems.
"It's like hitting out of an aluminum can if you're on the lower level," she said.
But it would be a welcome change if more tees were added at the driving range, Pallos said, because they can be hard to come by at night.
The City Council would need to approve the project. Construction of the upper deck on the driving range could begin next year, the building of the new clubhouse could begin in two years or more, and between those two projects the parking lot would be started.
Source: The Daily News of Los Angeles