LYNNWOOD – Golfers who dream of a cold beer on a warm summer day on the course here will have to dream on.
A proposal to allow beer and wine to be served from carts on the Lynnwood Municipal Golf Course failed to gain approval recently from the City Council.
City staff members say rounds and revenue have declined at the city-run golf course in recent years, as part of an industrywide trend caused by an increase in the number of courses.
The Lynnwood course, they say, is at an added disadvantage because it doesn’t serve alcohol.
“We’re the only publicly operated golf course in this area that doesn’t serve alcoholic beverages,” city parks director Lynn Sordel said.
Serving beer and wine would bring in an estimated $30,000 to $35,000 per year from alcohol sales alone, he said, not counting any increase in rounds that could result.
The course – set up as a self-sustaining operation, receiving no funds from the city – is on a pace to wind up slightly in the red for the year, Sordel said.
The City Council deadlocked on the beer-and-wine proposal, 3-3, in a vote last week. Councilman Jim Smith was absent and Mayor Don Gough was not allowed to vote on the budgetary matter under state law.
Councilman Mark Smith said he voted no partly because of the golf course’s proximity to Edmonds Community College. The course, at 20200 68th Ave. W., shares its entrance with EdCC.
“You have to drive in front of the Early Learning Center and child care, with 4- and 5-year-olds and parents crossing the parking lot,” Smith said. “The city shouldn’t be in the business of serving alcohol in our parks system.”
Councilmen Ted Hikel, Ed Dos Remedios and Loren Simmonds, voted for the proposal. Hikel said all three are nondrinkers.
“I thought it was a way of raising money without raising taxes. I thought it was appropriate,” Hikel said. “I recognize the fact that people who go out and golf like to have a beer or nowadays a glass of wine.”
Hikel said it’s known that many golfers bring their own alcoholic beverages onto the course.
“It’s done discreetly for the most part, but it’s very hard to control,” he said.
In a survey last spring on a number of Lynnwood parks issues, 64 percent of the golfers who responded said they’d like to have beer and wine at the course.
Golfers ask about it regularly, said Dan Smith, one of the course’s golf pros.
“They just ask where can they get a beer,” he said.
The course also does not have a restaurant. Mulligan’s Cafe, upstairs from the pro shop, is operated by the college and not open on weekends. The only foods available in the pro shop are packaged snacks such as chips and crackers.
Under the proposal, beer and wine would be served only on the course from carts, not indoors. Still, Sordel said, this could attract more tournaments and other special events to the course, as well as more golfers day-to-day.
He said he will consider bringing the proposal back to the council sometime during the coming year.
“We’ve got a great golf course, it’s a good layout, it’s a well-kept, challenging golf course,” Sordel said. “It just doesn’t have some of the bells and whistles.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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