DATE: Friday, June 13, 1997                 TAG: 9706130001

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   47 lines

IN THE ROUGH: IF VIRGINIA BEACH WANTS TO BE A MAJOR DESTINATION, IT MUST FIND CREATIVE WAYS TO MAINTAIN ITS EXISTING COURSES

Golfers in Virginia Beach don't know whether they're headed for golfers' heaven or a hellish rough.

On one hand, development of a $10 million PGA golf course is humming along. The course promises to be one of the finest in Virginia when it opens next year. On the other hand, the three golf courses already owned by the city are falling further and further into disrepair and there appears to be no money available to fix them. The estimated costs of improving Bow Creek, Kempsville Greens and Red Wing courses run as high as $10 million.

Golf course maintenance may not seem like a top municipal priority, but in a city that aspires to be an East Coast ``golf destination,'' poorly maintained courses become a liability.

J. Fletcher Bryant Jr., chairman of the city's golf advisory committee, has suggested the city sink $10 million into the Red Wing course. This money would be used to add nine holes on some recently acquired Camp Pendleton land and to improve the already excellent course. Profits generated by the new and improved Red Wing course could be earmarked to pay for needed repairs at the city's two other courses.

Bryant's suggestion makes sense but couldn't come at a worse time. Just a few weeks ago the city slashed $13 million from the proposed school budget, arguing that it could not fund the budget fully without raising taxes.

In addition, the city has several staggeringly expensive - but much needed - proposals on the horizon. Virginia Beach is pondering a major overhaul of its mediocre library system, and the city has acknowledged that its schools desperately need tens of millions of dollars for new technology.

For city officials to dip into their reserve fund for golf courses would be hard to justify now.

Instead, the city must explore some sort of public-private partnership to improve the courses without major public expenditures. Leasing the golf courses to the private sector would put the properties back on the city tax rolls (at 80 percent valuation) under Virginia Beach's leasehold arrangement.

If this plan is unacceptable, the city needs to study the problem further and find a creative solution.

This is a thorny issue. While it makes sense to spend limited public resources on the fine Red Wing course (which attracts many visitors), the city really can't allow its two other municipal courses (which draw mainly locals) to go to seed without clearly stiffing taxpayers to please tourists. KEYWORDS: GOLF

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