SAN MARTIN
– Add a new item to the list of concerns that San Martin’s tony
CordeValle golf resort will have to explain and address for Santa
Clara County officials: the environment.
SAN MARTIN – Add a new item to the list of concerns that San Martin’s tony CordeValle golf resort will have to explain and address for Santa Clara County officials: the environment.
The $80 million resort and golf course in San Martin’s picturesque Hayes Valley was back for another round of adjustments before the county’s Planning Commission, which already has tweaked the resort’s permits once after officials decided it was not living up to its public play agreements.
But before the commission could address the course’s request to halt call-in reservations and replace them with other measures, officials from the county’s Audubon Society told them that – according to the state’s Department of Fish and Game – the course is not in compliance with environmental mitigation requirements.
Audubon Executive Director Craig Breon said the course has not been conducting required annual wildlife surveys and has reportedly lagged on constructing wetlands and special ponds for threatened species such as the western pond turtle and tiger salamander. He urged the county to delay making changes in golf operations until the mitigation work is done.
The course has “allowed aspects of environmental (compliance) to fall years behind,” Breon said.
But course officials and attorneys said they have made progress on some elements, and had already contacted state wildlife officials on their own initiative to learn what work is left before being challenged by Audubon.
“We’re absolutely committed to completing this as soon as answers from (the state) are received,” said resort General Manager Joe Root.
Meanwhile, county staff and CordeValle have made different suggestions about how to boost public play at the course after the perceived failure of a six-month pilot program.
The program allowed non-members – who previously had to book a $500-plus room package or be a guest of a member to play the course – to make advance phone reservations to play Monday through Wednesday. However, it only produced 19 rounds of golf – not enough progress in the eyes of most commissioners.
County planners have now recommended extending the call-in public play to seven days a week.
But course officials oppose the move, maintaining it would not work with their business model and could lead to lawsuits from members or even the facility’s closure.
Instead, they have suggested doing away with the call-in program entirely and meeting the public play requirement through provisions that include rounds played by resort guests, a new 10-year, $250,000 youth golf program funded by the course and expanded student and charity use.
Wedged between two lengthy hearings for other issues, commissioners had only a handful of minutes to decide the matter. Some wanted to delay the issue until they could get answers from Fish and Game.
Commissioner Sequoia Hall said he was prepared to work with the course on the play requirements but the environmental news had “sort of put a question mark on it. I want to see how well you’re willing to step up to the plate.”
But others said the issue has been delayed long enough and didn’t feel the county needed to link the permit provisions for public play and the environmental enforcement issues.
“I don’t feel it’s necessary to use the ‘stick’ (of permit conditions) to do that,” said Commissioner Richard Palmisano.
The commission decided to continue the matter for 60 days and gather more information on the environmental progress.
Sixty percent of rounds were supposed to be made available for public play, according to the initial use permit the county granted the course in 1996.
However, county officials cracked down after learning that golfers “off the street” had to book a room package or be a guest of a member to play there. Internet advertisements and signs at the time proclaimed the course was a private facility.
Course officials still maintain that they meet or exceed the 60 percent requirement through golfers who book rooms, guests of members, charity tournaments and practices and matches for high-school and college teams.
