My job really is to bring back lots of information for the council to make an informed decision about the golf course in May or June of next year.”

Carrie Hite, Director of Parks and Recreation Strategy, City of Port Townsend

What to do with the Port Townsend Golf Course? That’s the question the city of Port Townsend is asking its peers, professional planners, and the community — with the goal of settling on a final plan for the property’s future by next year.

The Port Townsend City Council gave the go-ahead to set up a contract with Groundswell Landscape Architecture of Seattle to help plan, engage, and assist with the golf course’s future at the council’s meeting last week.

The contract — or professional services agreement — between the city and Groundswell totals $125,000 and will involve the consultants reaching out to the community for ideas, feedback, and more, along with planning and conceptualizing the property’s future design.

“This is a decision that was made as part of this year’s budget last year by council to really focus on the future of the golf course,” City Manager John Mauro said during the meeting.

Recent city hire Carrie Hite, who came on board in April as the new director of parks and recreation strategy, is set to be one of the key officials involved. Hite will spearhead the community outreach and planning process for the golf course, located on Blaine Street, over the next nine to 10 months.

“This initiative really is to launch the community engagement strategy to explore alternatives with the possibility for extending the golf use,” Hite said during a presentation on the golf course.

Groundswell Landscape Architecture representative Chris Jones shared his firm’s intent to collaborate with the community and capture the culture and spirit of Port Townsend.

“The solution needs to be people-centric to this project, and that’s our first and foremost goal for this project,” Jones said.

“We love working with quirky communities … these places need to be reflective of those quirks and those aspects of people, place, and culture,” he said.

“My job really is to bring back lots of information for the council to make an informed decision about the golf course in May or June of next year,” Hite added.

“We have seated a community stakeholder group and we will begin work early this month with them. The members include some members of the community, some members of the golf club, Mountain View tenants, the economic development commission, school district, Jefferson County, YMCA, the Kah Tai Prairie, and Jefferson Land Trust,” she said.

Going with a community outreach strategy similar to the city’s approach to the Sims Gateway and Boatyard Expansion Project on determining the fate of the Normandy poplar trees lining Sims Way, the new stakeholder group for the golf course will bring 20 people from differing organizations together to brainstorm, plan, and discuss ideas for what to do with the land.

YEARS IN LIMBO

The fate of the golf course has been in limbo for the past couple years, and the city council approved a three-year operational agreement in late 2020 to investigate alternative-use concepts for the course and refine those concepts with the potential for extended golf use.

An aspect of the golf course that officials are considering, and why some planners are envisioning a new use for the land outside of golf, is a study completed by the National Golf Foundation in 2019.

According to the study, the Port Townsend Golf Course is challenged by its declining condition and somewhat remote location, which limits its potential market support.

The foundation estimated that it would cost $935,000 to $1.2 million to bring the course up to standard, attract more visitors, and become viable as a golf course.

The potential upgrades needed include improvements to the irrigation system and pump house, tree and stump removal, purchasing appropriate maintenance equipment, clubhouse repairs, and repairs to the course.

After receiving that analysis, the city council then decided not to pursue the renovation recommendation due to its hefty price tag.

THE NEW PLAN

Now, city officials, the stakeholder group, and Groundswell staff members will have close to a year to deliberate on the golf course’s ultimate fate.

On the possibility of the property staying as a golf course and potentially getting the needed upgrades, Hite said, “that’s not off the table.

“I know we’ve received quite a bit of comments and will continue to talk about a pre-determined decision, but there is no pre-determined decision,” Hite said. “This is a full-on public community discussion process about the golf course.”

“We’re going to weigh some pro and cons, we’re going to look at costs, and we’re going to look at benefits for the community,” she added.

MORE COLLABORATION

City officials expect to cooperate with the Port Townsend School District and Olympic Peninsula YMCA and utilize the city-leased land on the Mountain View Campus as potentially part of the grand plan for the golf course property.

“We also really want to align this with the Mountain View Campus. There’s a lot of auxiliary uses at Mountain View, there could be some complementary uses with the golf course and it makes sense to look at them as a full suite of properties together as one project,” Hite said.

Adjacent to the golf course, Mountain View Campus land is owned by the school district and leased by the city.

The names of all 20 stakeholder group members has yet to be officially announced, but city officials expect it to be released soon.

Officials predict that the group might even include a representative for Port Townsend’s younger population.

“We still have a seat waiting for a younger community member that [school superintendent] Linda Rosenbury from the school district is helping me recruit,” Hite said.

An individual webpage with more details on the planning process for the property and information for the public is expected to be released in the near future.

The public will be allowed to attend the stakeholder meetings, according to the city.