Getting into the golf business will be a hard sell to taxpayers, the Oro Valley Parks Advisory Board says.
The board spent hours Tuesday night discussing the town's plan to buy the El Conquistador country club with its 45 holes of golf for $1 million and turn it into a community center and recreation center. Town leaders plan to pay for the project with a new half-cent sales tax.
The parks board voted 5-1 to advise the Town Council to go ahead with the purchase â without the golf business.
âWe really wish we could get these wonderful facilities at a cheap cost and dump the golf courses,â board member Dana Hallin said.
The town recently surveyed residents about what kinds of parks and recreation facilities they wanted. People asked for ball fields and playgrounds, not golf, Hallin said.
Golf ranked just above ziplining near the bottom of the survey, noted board member Adam Wade.
"Our constituents don't want golf courses," Wade said.
The town proposes to buy the country club and golf facilities from HSL Properties, which is going to buy the Hilton El Conquistador resort. HSL wants to sell the country club and golf courses as a package, said Town Manager Greg Caton.
The town wouldn't consider the deal if it were just for the golf courses, but it wants the country club for a community center, and it's not possible to buy the center without the golf business, Caton told the board.
Caton said it would cost about $8 million to operate and renovate the country club and golf courses over 5 years. The half-cent sales tax would raise about $10 million, he said. Building a new community center would cost up to $30 million, he said.
With another interested buyer waiting in the wings, the Town Council is expected to vote on the acquisition and the tax next week.
