Golfers in East Portland can breathe a sigh of relief. Glendoveer is likely to remain golf-centric.
So it seems after a Metro Council work session Tuesday afternoon, at which staff from Metro's parks department presented investment options for Glendoveer Golf Course and the associated facilities.
None of the options will be cheap, staff said, and Metro probably won't be able to maintain the $800,000-plus a year it gets out of its contract with Glendoveer's operator now.
With that contract expiring at the end of next year, Metro is envisioning what Glendoveer should look like for its next contract cycle.
The message that seemed clear Tuesday was that any vision will lean heavily on golf.
Two of the three scenarios maintained the facility with two golf courses. The one scenario that dramatically reduced the golf footprint of the facility also came with a significant cost – Metro would go from netting more than $800,000 a year from the facility's operations to losing $316,000.
With that much of a financial hit not getting much obvious support at the table, Metro councilors were left to discuss two proposals for the course.
One, which would cost about $6.9 million to implement, would maintain two 18-hole courses at the facility, repair the irrigation system and bring it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. After a few years of debt service, this most basic plan would mean annual revenues of about $280,000 for Metro.
A second scenario had a higher cost – and return. The $8.9 million proposal would turn the tennis center into an event space, allowing Glendoveer to host golf tournaments that the course can't compete for now. It would also reduce the facility to 27 holes, which in turn reduces the amount of money spent on the irrigation system.
Staff and consultants estimated that Metro would ultimately see revenues of about $565,000 a year from the course under that proposal.
Metro Council President Tom Hughes said the community-building aspect of hosting tournaments could be a benefit to the East Portland community.
"It's more than a revenue thing," Hughes said, pointing to events hosted at a golf course near his Hillsboro home. That course, he said, hosts tournaments to benefit causes ranging from the Greater Hillsboro Area Chamber of Commerce to the chaplain service at Tuality Hospital.
And while Councilor Rex Burkholder said he still wanted to see how Glendoveer could provide "other recreational opportunities," Councilor Barbara Roberts suggested looking a little more broadly than Glendoveer's 242 acres for chances to improve recreation in East Portland.
"Though we may need more soccer fields, as Councilor Burkholder has indicated, in today's world, I'm not sure that this is the place I would do that," said Roberts, whose district includes the course. "It seems like a better place to look is at the high schools in the area and the junior high schools in the area."
Metro will hold an open house at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 1 at Glendoveer's northeast corner (near NE 148th Avenue and Halsey Street) to offer a closer look at the plans and answer questions. The Metro Council is expected to get another update on Glendoveer planning at its Aug. 16 work session.