By C Wayne Dauber

I discussed the community concerns with the Boulder Oaks management in mid-March, mostly with regard to the non-maintained fallow land near the four-way stop signs. As most of us know, when the course renovation plan was first presented to the community two years ago it included the removal from play of the areas covered by three holes and a significant part of another. It had been determined that this was the only way the course could survive as a viable business because of the rapidly increasing cost of water and other resources and reduced income from lower fees and reduced play.

Boulder Oaks and the community benefited by being one of the relatively few courses in the area to receive payment for turf taken out of service. In this case it was close to seventy acres. The course is more compact than it used to be but still a full eighteen holes and a relatively few yards shorter. Without the assist from the Metropolitan Water District the course would almost certainly have gone out of business, with the whole area ending up looking much as that four corner area does now.

As part of the renovation, and as a means to provide an additional income flow, a senior assisted living facility was proposed to fill part of the vacated space. I believe that San Diego County gave some assurance they would look favorably on the kind of usage for the land, with some stipulations, and I understand that so far they have done so.

So why has nothing happened so far in that corner. We are a very regulated and monitored country. We get a lot of help from the various levels of government telling us what we can and cannot do. At one point I was told the designers had a plan ready to submit to the course owner that would likely pass County review. Before that happened there were major environmental and some safety rules changes and they were back to a major redesign of the project. That was at least half a year ago, with one of the major obstacles being emergency evacuation considerations that did not seem to be a limiting problem earlier. No one I have been able to find will provide even a guess as to when this logjam will break.

The Foundation has proposed a cooperative program to make some portion of the large section along Mountain Meadow Rd and Meadow Glen Way East into a park, perhaps funding some benches, picnic tables, and play equipment, but the course says it cannot afford to re-turf and maintain the area.

Here is finally some good news on the subject. I also learned during our meeting that the course is going to sod farm in the area that used to be the number ten hole, and that they are planning to include a chipping green in there as well. That will provide a grassy area on one side of the road, the golf course side, and a suitable area for parties and weddings as well.