Residents: No need to change golf course

Most criticize proposal that would add driving range, miniature golf to Sligo Creek

‘‘‘‘It doesn’t need to be an amusement park,” longtime golfer John Taylor said, noting that residents voiced their first round of criticism last March on potential problems with traffic, noise, lighting and the environment.

The Montgomery County Revenue Authority was charged with making the course financially viable after taking control in 2006 from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The plan to add a lighted driving range and miniature golf course is intended to generate more money and increase the facility’s use.

Revenue Authority Executive Director Keith Miller said changes were necessary to meet the financial demands of the site.

‘‘We have a situation at Sligo Creek, and we have got to resolve it. I don’t know the answer to that, beyond that. ... We’re trying to figure out the best way to go,” Miller said Friday.

According to the report’s financial data, the course was projected to lose $170,000 in fiscal 2008, compared to a net loss of about $100,700 the previous year. Timonium-based financial firm Kennady Consulting determined that the projected gross profit for the renovated course would be about $1.3 million in its first year, and $1.5 million by year two.

The nearly $5 million in renovations would shorten the course by about 1,000 yards in favor of expanding the clubhouse, adding a 72-stall driving range and creating one or two miniature golf courses.

‘‘We’re reviewing all the information from the meeting to determine what our next steps will be,” Miller said. ‘‘It was a lot to take in.”

At the meeting, Miller defended the study’s results, saying the scope of the information was limited because the plan was still a concept. He said the next step for the agency would be to work with the 10 neighbors who volunteered at the meeting to look at alternatives.

Adam Pagnucco, chairman of Crossing Georgia, a subcommittee of the Forest Estates Community Association concerned with improving highway safety, said he was most disappointed with the results of the traffic study, which failed to mention nearby Forest Glen Road and Georgia Avenue, a spot his group calls ‘‘The Intersection of Death” that was deemed the most congested in the county in a 2006 report.

Another busy intersection, U.S. 29 and Sligo Creek Parkway, was included, but traffic consultant Mike Nalepa of the Glen Burnie-based Street Traffic Studies said there were traffic mitigation techniques that could be used there, such as bus shelters, bike racks and new sidewalks that would make the area more commuter-friendly.

Those suggestions were met with snickers from the crowd, and questions such as, ‘‘Where would we put our clubs? On our bikes?”

Some in the audience were concerned that a study by engineering consulting firm Greenhorne and O’Mara failed to account for the course’s wildlife and lacked details on the number of trees that would have to be replaced with the renovation.

Bruce Sidwell, a Takoma Park resident and president of Friends of Sligo Creek, said the group needed a commitment from Miller to ‘‘go out and get the information that’s actually needed.”

Miller has already submitted a request to fund the project as part of the Revenue Authority’s fiscal 2009 Capital Improvements Program. Although the agency would fully fund the project, all CIP requests must be approved by the County Council beforehand. Worksessions on the issue are expected in February.

‘‘It’s clear that it’s not going to be something the [County] Council’s going to move forward on with this tremendous opposition from the community,” said County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring.

Ervin said the Revenue Authority had few options as to how to proceed, and speculated that the agency would turn the course back over to Park and Planning.

The Revenue Authority, which leases the county’s golf courses from Park and Planning, could return the operation of any course back to Park and Planning if it is ‘‘detrimental to the system,” Miller said. In that case, a clause in the lease states that the land no longer would be run as a golf course.

Miller has said it has never been his intention to return the Sligo Creek Golf Course to Park and Planning, but would not comment Friday on whether the plan was stalled or moving forward.

‘‘I think we still have to decide overall what we’re doing,” he said.