Modesto wants to hear from residents on Muni golf course’s future
Residents will have two chances to tell city officials how they would like the Modesto Municipal Golf Course to be redeveloped if the city decides to sell the cherished nine-hole course.
The city is hold community meetings Thursday and March 19 near the course in west Modesto. Both meetings are 5:30 to 7 p.m. The first meeting will be at the Mancini Hall Senior Center, 718 Tuolumne Blvd., and the second will be at the King-Kennedy Memorial Center, 601 S. Martin Luther King Drive.
City officials will give a brief presentation about Muni — which opened in 1933 as the city’s first golf course — and the financial reasons why the city is considering selling the 54-acre property along Tuolumne Boulevard near Highway 99.
The City Council decided in January to direct staff to shutter the course and prepare it for sale, a reflection of the financial difficulties Modesto has had in owning three courses (18-hole Creekside and Dryden are the others) as well as declining interest in the game nationwide.
The closure is expected to take place no later than the end of this year. The local chapter of The First Tee — a nationwide organization that teaches life skills to young people through golf — manages Muni under a contract with the city that ends in December. The city is working with First Tee to move its program to Dryden.
Council members have directed city officials to gather community input about how Muni could be redeveloped if the city decides to sell it. Council members plan on having a say in how the course is repurposed if the city sells it.
Some of the ideas that have been discussed including affordable housing, open space, youth athletic fields and a mixed-use development of homes and business.
Officials expect to report back to the Council in late spring or early summer with the results from the community meetings as well as any restrictions the city may face in the sale and redevelopment of the golf course. The Council could then make a decision on whether to put the course up for sale.
But more than a half dozen residents who live along the golf course told The Bee last month they don’t want housing or any other changes. They said the golf course is one of the few bright spots in west Modesto, one of the city’s most diverse, poorest and oldest communities.
They said the course, which is surrounded by homes, provides tranquil open space and families use it for picnics, games and strolls after the golfers leave for the day.
