Residents want Sligo golf course to stay open
By: Alan Suderman
Examiner Staff Writer
July 2, 2009
Montgomery County residents are growing increasingly upset as the closing date of an inside-the-Beltway public golf course draws near.
Fans of Sligo Creek Golf Course, which is set to close Oct. 1, have set up a Web site and Facebook group, and have frequently protested to the County Council.
"It seems impossible to believe that this marvelous green sward of recreational opportunity will suffer the slings and arrows of bureaucratic malaise," Don Collins said in one of the more colorful letters to the council. "I will be alerting many residents of Montgomery County to scream and scream and scream about this travesty."
The county has said it can't afford to keep Sligo, which is a nine-hole course close to downtown Silver Spring, open in its current form. An analysis by the National Golf Foundation projected the course would lose more than $200,000 a year for the next four years and is not "economically viable under its current configuration." The county suggested adding a driving range and mini-golf to the course to beef up revenues, but residents rejected those proposals over concerns of increased traffic and noise and light pollution.
The county has said it can't afford to keep Sligo, which is a nine-hole course close to downtown Silver Spring, open in its current form. An analysis by the National Golf Foundation projected the course would lose more than $200,000 a year for the next four years and is not "economically viable under its current configuration." The county suggested adding a driving range and mini-golf to the course to beef up revenues, but residents rejected those proposals over concerns of increased traffic and noise and light pollution.
Without the additional revenue, the county has decided to close the park and use the space for some other use, including soccer fields or a Frisbee golf course, much to the chagrin of the residents.
Rachel Newhouse, the project director for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, said, "The overwhelming public response that we've received ... has been to keep the golf course."
But doing so, she said, means that the County Council will have to agree to subsidize the golf course with taxpayer money.
Supporters of the golf course have questioned the financial assumptions that show the course can't be profitable in its current form. They've also added that Sligo, which they said draws a more diverse crowd of players than other courses, is a worthwhile investment of public money.
"Keep something for the midlife and senior population, who have paid into the economic system for many years, to enjoy and stay healthy in the years ahead," Marie Best, whose elderly parents use the course, said in a letter to the council.
Council President Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville, said he was "keeping an open mind" about keeping the course open, but added that he didn't think the council would support subsidizing a golf course.
"We view golf as something that should be self-supporting," he said.
