SAN MARTIN
– Add a new item to the list of concerns that San Martin’s tony
CordeValle golf resort will have to explain and address for county
officials: the environment.
SAN MARTIN – Add a new item to the list of concerns that San Martin’s tony CordeValle golf resort will have to explain and address for county officials: the environment.
The $80 million resort and golf course in San Martin’s picturesque Hayes Valley was back for another round of adjustments Thursday before the county’s Planning Commission, which already has tweaked the resort’s permits once after officials decided it was not living up to its public play agreement.
A six-month pilot program that allowed non-members to make advance phone reservations Monday through Wednesday only produced 19 rounds of golf – not enough progress in the eyes of most commissioners.
But before they could address that issue again Thursday, officials from the county’s Audubon Society told them that, according to the state’s Deparment of Fish and Game, the course is not in compliance with environmental mitigation requirements as well.
The course has “allowed aspects of environmental (compliance) to fall years behind,” said society Executive Director Craig Breon, including wildlife surveys and ponds for threatened species. He urged the county to withhold changes in golf operations until the work is done.
But course officials and attorneys said they had already contacted state widlife officials on their own initiative to learn what other work needs to be done, and are waiting for feedback.
“We’re absolutely committed to completing this as soon as answers from (the state) are received,” said resort General Manager Joe Root.
Sixty percent of rounds were supposed to be made available for public play according to the initial use permit the county granted the course in 1996.
However, county officials cracked down after learning that a golfer off the street largely had to book a $500-plus room package or be a guest of a member to play there. Internet advertisements and signs at the time proclaimed the course was a private facility.
Course officials stil maintain that they meet or exceed the 60 percent requirement through golfers who book rooms, guests of members, charity tournaments and practices and matches for high-school and college teams.
County planners have now recommended extending the call-in public play to seven days a week.
However, course officials oppose the move, suggesting it would not work with the course’s business model and could lead to lawsuits from members or even the facility’s closure.
Instead, they have suggested doing away with the call-in program entirely and meeting the public play requirement through provisions that include rounds played by resort guests, a new 10-year, $250,000 youth golf program funded by the course and expanded student and charity use.
Wedged between two lengthy hearings for other issues, commissioners decided to continue the matter for 60 days and gather more information on the environmental progress.
Commissioner Sequoia Hall said he was prepared to work with the course on the play requirements but the environmental news had “sort of put a question mark on it. I want to see how well you’re willing to step up to the plate.”
