THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 29, 1996 TAG: 9606290387
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 69 lines
The Army is marching ahead with plans to build a championship-caliber golf course along the Oceanfront at Fort Story by 1999 for military and civilian players in an effort to beef up its morale, welfare and recreation accounts.
Once open, the facility, which would have at least three beachfront holes, would become the eighth and possibly the most desirable Virginia Beach public links.
The city, meanwhile, remains bogged down in efforts to develop five or six new courses, despite a long-avowed goal of becoming an East Coast golf mecca.
And City Council members like Vice Mayor Will Sessoms have become restive over continued delays.
``I've talked to a number of council members and there is some frustration,'' Sessoms said. ``We have to get things rolling faster.''
Both the Army and the city have long eyed golf - in the form of ``signature'' courses designed by well-known pros like Hale Irwin or Jack Nicklaus - as an economic tool to advance troop morale efforts or to broaden the local tourism base.
The Fort Story initiative began back in 1991, said Bill Franssen, civilian director of the Army's personnel and community activities office at Fort Eustis, who helped draft a ``request for interest'' from private developers a year ago.
Since then, Franssen's office has received 14 inquiries from potential builders. The Army is looking over the responses and then will ask for specific proposals.
Franssen said bids would be opened within four to six months, and ground would be broken within a year. Construction would take another 18 months to two years.
About 250 acres of the 1,450-acre base, which overlooks the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, is available for the golf course, said Lt. Col. Fred Barrell, base commanding officer.
Golf development plans for the base were made with four goals in mind, Barrell said: to provide golf for the military community and the public at large; to increase revenue for the morale, welfare and recreation accounts; to complement the city's golf development plans, and to produce a course that doesn't impact the delicate environment near the shoreline.
To that end, Army planners have made available a stretch of tree-covered high ground running nearly two miles through the middle of the base and tapering off near the east gate. As envisioned by Franssen, the bulk of the course would be built over the top of a series of World War II-vintage underground bunkers and cover most of two public parking lots near the east gate. These now are used in summer months by civilian beachgoers.
Franssen and Barrell said the course would be a ``public-private'' project, with no public funds involved. The developer would finance the construction, build the facility and pay the Army an annual fee for operating the course. The city would reap sales taxes from greens fees, pro-shop sales and other fees associated with a golf-course operation.
Barrell estimates about $700,000 a year for the Army morale, welfare and recreation fund from the course operation.
The city is aware of the Army's efforts, according to Sessoms, and the project is advancing with its blessings. However, the city's own golf development plans are moving ahead cautiously.
On June 3, the city received six responses to a solicitation sent to would-be golf developers throughout the country. The document calls for developing several ``quality'' golf courses on the city-owned Lake Ridge property, a 1,200-acre tract bordering Princess Anne Road 1.5 miles from the Municipal Center.
Two city committees are studying how best to develop Lake Ridge - one group looking into potential recreational uses in addition to the development of golf courses, and a second deciding how best to develop golf courses at Lake Ridge and areas north of Indian River Road.
Both committees have completed their work and plan to pass their findings on to the City Council. by CNB