I was quite interested in this article in the Sun yesterday about re-thinking the golf courses the city owns and operates. Given that golf is on the decline and most private golf courses are having problems getting and retaining members it makes sense to rethink this land use. If these public city courses were taken out of the picture then the private courses would get a boost. Although golf courses provide green space they do take an inordinate amount of water as well.
Think what the city could do with this money....solve homelessness perhaps once and for all, provide affordable housing for struggling families, provide recreational facilities that more people could make use of. It seems like a no-brainer to me.
From the Vancouver Sun:
The City of Vancouver is sitting on a gold mine - grossly under-used
land worth billions that could be used to lighten the tax load or
provide amenities.
Or maybe it's three gold mines. They are the
city-owned golf courses - Langara, which sits near the southern end of
the red-hot real estate corridor created by the new Canada Line,
McCleery on the Fraser River in tony Southlands, and Fraserview, which
overlooks the river near the city's eastern boundary.
The three
tie up large tracts of land that, with realistic zoning, would be worth
several billion dollars. Yet they hosted a total of only about 164,000
rounds of golf last year, which netted less than $1 million after
expenses. Compared to a prime multi-use public space like Stanley Park,
they occupy about one-third as much land and were used by barely more
than one-50th the number of people.
One alternative to get better
value from these under-used spaces would be to convert them into parks,
or a mix of recreational facilities that would attract a wider range of
visitors.
