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Dying Golf Course Held Hostage By Competing Initiatives

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published August 9, 2014 at 7:24 AM PDT
This story was published more than 10 years ago.
The unwatered Escondido Country Club Golf Course sits next to green gardens, Aug. 7, 2014.
Alison St John
The unwatered Escondido Country Club Golf Course sits next to green gardens, Aug. 7, 2014.

The future of the Escondido Country Club Golf course is rapidly withering.

If a November ballot initiative passes, a developer hopes to build hundreds of homes on the course. But the Escondido City Council has already approved a citizens initiative that would preserve the course as open space.

The developer, Stuck in the Rough LLC, closed the course last year, saying it was no longer economically viable, and stopped watering the greens. That left hundreds of nearby homeowners living next to acres of dried grass and dying trees.

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Dennis Hollingsworth, a spokesman for the developer, said the ballot initiative is a compromise. He said the plan is to build 430 homes on the 110 acres, instead of the 600 houses the developer believes is permitted by current city zoning.

"The important thing to know about this initiative is that it solves the problem through a compromise that happens now," Hollingsworth said. "Otherwise, the two parties are going to fight it out in court. There could be a multimillion judgment against the city of Escondido, and the property is going to remain an unused and blighted eyesore for many, many years."

But Ken Lounsbery, an attorney representing the Escondido Country Club & Community Homeowners Organization, said all five members of the City Council have supported an earlier citizens initiative to keep the course as open space, and they believe the course can be saved.

"The area is unwatered, 79 trees have died and the grass is brown," Lounsbery said. "That’s not to say that the land area is lost. There is still 110 acres of open space. It’s not the same open space it was before, but nor is it 430 rooftops."

Lounsbery said the council members are pro business and pro development, but even they are united in opposing this land use change.

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There is much at stake: The developer is suing the city for millions of dollars more than the city has in its reserves.

The November ballot measure may — or may not — end the litigation.

The developer also faces fines for a stink caused earlier this year when Stuck in the Rough scattered chicken manure on the golf course. Nearby residents said it was done to fowl the air and irritate the homeowners, but the developer said it was to maintain the course.

The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District cited the developer over the manure incident, and Stuck in the Rough responded on June 30. The district expects to make a decision within the next 30 days on whether to fine the developer over the incident.

Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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