Other golf, Fitness Center roof projects get funding

by Sam Richards

Staff Writer

 

 

Tuesday, June 25 (9:00 a.m.): The GRF Planning Committee last week recommended funding four of five capital projects moved forward on GRF’s priority list, after the pickleball structure originally set for a mid-2024 groundbreaking moved back a year.

But a fifth proposed project, a series of turf reduction efforts adjacent to tee boxes on the Dollar Ranch course, was delayed, at least temporarily. The delay arose amid sentiments that a looming GRF capital project budget squeeze should result in tighter scrutiny of any major proposed spending that doesn’t directly relate to either maintaining safety or crucial infrastructure.

Planning Committee member Dwight Walker said that, with fewer home sales in Rossmoor translating to fewer Membership Transfer fee payments in the GRF Trust Estate Fund – from which capital projects are paid– the future of GRF’s capital projects is cloudy, at least in the short term.

“In my opinion, we should be looking at every project, and take a really long look at prioritizing the most important projects,” Walker said. The committee agreed to consider the golf course turf reduction projects – which would cost $150,000 – when a better picture of future funding emerges. GRF Golf Director Mark Heptig said approximately half the tee boxes have thus far gotten this treatment, and that a contractor who has done a good job on the project so far is set to retire soon, adding a time-crucial element to the project.

The Planning Committee, on a 3-0 vote, recommended to the full GRF Board to approve spending on the other four projects, totaling $345,000. They are:

• Tice Fitness Center roof replacement (skyl ight s), $165,000

• Replacement of t ur f in st reet medians with d rought- toler a nt pla nt s , $65,000 (and is eligible for rebates)

• Replacement of a golf course water pump, $75,000

• Scoping and design work for replacing the golf course lake liner, $50,000

Originally set for construction to begin in summer 2024, the long-planned GRF pickleball structure now is scheduled for a March 2025 groundbreaking. Given that project’s delay, GRF senior managers asked that several other lower- priority capital projects be moved up the schedule from 2025 to 2024.

The GRF Board last month approved spending $1.159 million on two of those moved-up projects – some street paving work and new Event Center audio- visual tech equipment, both of them deemed time-sensitive. But five other proposed projects, totaling $505,000, were sent back to the Planning Committee for more discussion. The GRF Board is expected to take up these four newly recommended 2024 expenditures at its June 27 meeting.

Walker had contended that related information in the May Board agenda packet didn’t correlate with what had been discussed by the Planning Committee on May 9, and the Board opted to send re-prioritizing those projects back to the Planning Committee. And last Thursday, the Planning Committee voted to recommend funding for all, except the golf tee box turf elimination work.

Planning Committee Chair Cheryl Hines said she wants to be able to bring the golf course turf elimination project back for an approval vote should analysis of the GRF Trust Estate Fund show the money could be spent for it. That the turf reduction could lower East Bay Municipal Utility District water costs for the golf course by $25,000 a year is reason to give it consideration for revisiting, she said.

In the meantime, Planning Committee members said they urge the GRF Finance Committee to do a deep dive on the state of the Trust Estate Fund and its future prospects.