Port Townsend: Arts center and golf course don’t mix, foundation report tells City Hall

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, March 30, 2004

PORT TOWNSEND — Developing a multi-use clubhouse at Port Townsend Golf Club is a better fit with the city’s nine-hole course than a proposed visual and performing arts center.

That’s one of the findings of a study of the city links conducted earlier this month by the National Golf Foundation.

In a four-page report to City Manager David Timmons, Richard B. Singer, director of consulting services for the golf foundation, said locating an auditorium-gallery on the golf club property “would not be a satisfactory arrangement for either the golf course or the arts center.”

Singer’s report makes five recommendations about the golf course.

* Create a task force to define a mission statement and business plan for the future of the golf course.

* Create a study of the golf course in the areas of marketing/demographics, revenue potential, cost to upgrade the facility, maintenance needs and revenues.

* Determine what related uses might be added at the golf course to increase revenues.

* Make a clear legal definition of the golf course property for “golf course use only.”

* Establish realistic revenue and expenditure projections for operation of the course as a base for planning future management.