Source: Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, Conn.)
Trumbull, Conn. - The town's golf course could soon get a new cart barn to go with its recently completed nine-hole addition.
At its Thursday meeting, the Board of Finance will be asked to approve $485,000 to plan and construct a new cart storage facility at the Tashua Knolls Golf Course.
The finance board meets at 8 p.m. in Town Hall.
The need for a new cart barn is twofold, according to Donald Miklus, chairman of the golf course building committee.
"What we thought we could do, as we went ahead with the expansion, is add on to the old cart barn," he said.
But because of the additional nine holes, the town's Golf Commission plans to acquire 25 more golf carts, requiring more storage room. The course currently has 62 carts.
The commission also has decided to switch from gasoline-powered carts to electric carts.
"The chargers for electric carts have to hang from the rafters, and the rafters in the current building are not suitable," Miklus said.
After an architectural review of the cart barn, Miklus said it was determined that it would cost more to retrofit the structure than to build a new one.
He said the new barn would be about 100 yards from the existing one.
"Not only will it be more functional, it will be less obtrusive to the golfer," Miklus said.
Plans for the existing barn have not been finalized, he said, but added that "more than likely it will be demolished."
For the first five years, the debt for the cart barn construction will be paid for using money from the course's retained earnings account.
Once the bond for a new golf course irrigation system is retired, the money being used to pay that debt will be switched to the cart barn debt.
"We don't want to affect the greens fees," Miklus said of the construction project. "We're very sensitive to that."