Through the agreement, the Travis B. Bryan Municipal Golf Course in Bryan, Texas would close and partner with the Phillips Event Center at Briarcrest, essentially combining the golf properties.
After a long tug of war, a plan to close the Travis B. Bryan Municipal Golf Course might be laid out within the next month, as long as golfers are on board, the Bryan-College Station (Texas) Eagle reported.
In the agreement, which is still being finalized, the city would close the Bryan, Texas course and enter into a public-private partnership with Phillips Event Center at Briarcrest, the Eagle reported.
Green fees at the Briarcrest golf course would be lowered to match fees at the municipal course, and a 4,000-sq. ft. senior citizens center would be added. The contract would last 20 years and remain even if Wallace Phillips, the owner of Briarcrest Country Club, sold the property or went out of business. If he went bankrupt, the city would have the first right of refusal for the course. The price for a round of golf would be reassessed every five years, the Eagle reported.
The deal began when Phillips heard the city was planning to close the municipal golf course and he wanted to convince more golfers to come to Briarcrest, the Eagle reported.
“Bryan has two golf courses, and they are struggling,” Phillips said. “If you combine them, one of them would be a better course where you could maintain it.”
Phillips has invested about $2.5 million into the golf course since purchasing it last October. Former city councilman Mike Southerland, who was approached by Phillips as an informal consultant, initially said he couldn’t convince Bryan golfers to leave the municipal course. But with a change in pricing and a guarantee the city would be able to use the course for at least 20 years, Southerland is now working to win the approval of Bryan golfers, the Eagle reported.
“There are a lot of trust problems because the golfers have been jerked around so much,” Southerland said. “But Mr. Phillips is very sincere, and he has a good product too.”
Briarcrest offers golfers amenities such as a changing area and a pavilion. Meanwhile, city officials say Bryan’s municipal course needs an estimated $5 million to fix irrigation issues and re-do several holes, the Eagle reported.
Although the Bryan golf course turned a profit in 2009, it has been in the red since. It lost $98,700 in fiscal year 2013 and $283,811 in fiscal year 2012—not including $799,775 spent to purchase new equipment for the golf course during the past five fiscal years, the Eagle reported.
Mayor Jason Bienski expects the terms of the agreement to be finalized this week and for the council to vote on the agreement within the next 30 days, the Eagle reported.
Alternatively, the council could approve a referendum for the November ballot, which would require voters to approve any changes in the use of Bryan Municipal Golf Course. Because the referendum is non-binding, the city would not be required to enact it, the Eagle reported.
The referendum would have to be approved before August 18. If it is, the agreement with Phillips would dissolve. The fate of the Bryan course is up to voters, Bienski said, whether through a referendum or influencing their council members, the Eagle reported.
“If they want to keep the municipal golf course, we’ll keep the municipal golf course,” he said.
Even the strongest supporters of the municipal course are cautiously opening themselves to the idea of Briarcrest. Hugh Seale, a member of the Bryan golf advisory committee, would be delighted with the reported terms of the agreement, but he needs to see a contract first, the Eagle reported.
“I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them until he shows me something in writing, and someone with a legal backing can show me that all the golfers are protected,” Seale said.
There will be a public meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Phillips Event Center in Briarcrest to discuss the future of the Bryan golf course, the Eagle reported.
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