Residents Oppose Driving Range Plan

Residents adjacent to the Lindero Country Club urged Agoura Hills planning commissioners to just say no to a developer’s proposed alterations to the golf course’s driving range.

The commissioners, concerned about a proposal from Golf Projects International to alter lighting systems and raise some of the nets along the driving range by 50 feet, continued the hearing to a meeting in October.

They gave the developer and city staff time to conduct lighting studies, as well as produce visual models of how the nets would look at nearly twice the current height.

“I’m frustrated that there isn’t a lot of data that we can cite as reliable information,” Commissioner Jeff Reinhardt said at the range’s nine-month review hearing Thursday night.

David Smith, president of Golf Projects, said he was willing to work with the city and the community to alleviate any problems caused by the addition of the driving range last year.

But he also told the commission that he was in compliance with all the conditions of his original permit.

Those who spoke in favor of the project--including many employees of the club--told the commission that the driving range has benefited the community, financially and with youth programs.

But residents who were directly affected by the noise, lights and errant balls said the range was not what they planned on when they bought their homes.

The developer wants to alleviate the glare of the project’s lights on homes with an eight-foot-wide screen along the western boundary of the driving range.

Commissioners said they had concerns about the prospect of raising the nets to 110 feet to keep errant balls from flying into residents’ yards.

They wondered why Golf Projects wanted to raise them so high, when the developer had originally assured the city that 60-foot poles would suffice.

The developer blamed the disparity on Tiger Woods and the legions of “strong, young guys” who are taking up the sport in the wake of his success--and hitting the balls higher and farther than the company anticipated.