New Hotel For Blacklake Golf Resort

According to the Tribune, a new hotel is possible at the Blacklake Golf Resort, in Nipomo. This would be a very good thing for the community, particularly in terms of new revenue toward the community's incorporation. The Tribune reports:

A 125-unit hotel is being planned at Blacklake Golf Resort in Nipomo.

Course owner Rob Rossi is in the initial planning stages for the hotel that would feature golf villas, traditional rooms, and banquet and wedding facilities.

Renderings of the hotel show a multi-story building constructed in a Tuscan-village style.

Rossi said he wants to submit a formal application to San Luis Obispo County planners by the end of the year. He hopes, "with a little good fortune," that the project could be approved by 2007 and the hotel could open in 2008 or 2009.

The photo above in this post is an artist's rendition of the possible hotel. The golf course owner points out that the immediate financial benefit from the hotel taxes, i.e., transient occupancy tax, would go to San Luis Obispo County. Once Nipomo incorporates into a city, those tax revenues would be kept locally here in Nipomo. In the interim, these potential tax revenues will help the Nipomo community make up the current revenue deficit required to become a city.

With Cypress Ridge Golf Course just a short distance north on the mesa, and the Woodlands course also coming on line, Blacklake is seeking to stay competitive. Nipomo could well become a golfer's mecca here on the central coast, with these three major golf destinations within just miles of each other:

The hotel is the result of several factors, Rossi said. Mainly, construction of a hotel will ensure the course stays economically viable. Without such lodging, it's more difficult to attract the golf tourist -- a necessity for making the course profitable.

Blacklake originally included condos for tourists when it was built more than 20 years ago. But over the years they were sold off as homes.

About 90,000 rounds of golf per year are played on the 27-hole golf course, Rossi said. The course earns between $3 million and $4 million a year.

Since he bought Blacklake for about $10 million in 2001, Rossi said he has "easily" put in more than $500,000 worth of capital toward improving the course.

The hotel could benefit county coffers too, Rossi said. Many of the courses' tourists -- who come from across the state and as far away as Canada -- now stay in Santa Maria, meaning Santa Barbara County keeps the transient occupancy tax.

"If we had those rooms," Rossi said, "there's no doubt we would accommodate many of them. They're already there playing golf."

Other county businesses could also profit from the hotel, Rossi said. The resort would attract families, tournaments and couples. While one family member may golf, the others would explore the Central Coast, he explained.

As public hearings are announced, I will post them on this blog.

North Coast Cooking

Over the weekend, a friend of mine and I went up north to Paso Robles to demonstate cooking a turkey in a dutch oven turkey type roaster. I've posted our exploits over on my regular blog, and you can read about it here. Umm, umm good!

NCAC Incorporation Meeting

The NCAC Incorporation subcommittee is meeting on Tuesday 11/15/05 at 6:00 pm at the Nipomo Public Library, located at 918 W. Tefft Street. The agenda for this meeting follows:

Agenda

Tuesday, November 15, 2000 6:00 pm at the Nipomo Library the next meeting of the committee will have Mr. Paul Hood, Executive Director of LAFCO (The Local Agency Formation Commission) as our guest speaker. Last month the committee heard from a community that is in the process of evaluating Incorporation. This month we will get a better understanding of the legal process to Incorporate. If Nipomo decides to Incorporate, all of the paperwork will be submitted to LAFCO for their review and consideration. Without the approval of LAFCO, the process is stopped. Come with questions and an open mind. For those that would like to read up on LAFCO, their web site is www.slolafco.com

We hope to see you at the meeting.

Nipomo's Newest Golf Course

Yesterday's Tribune has a short blurb about Nipomo's newest golf course. According to the Tribune, the course named Monarch Dunes, at the new Woodlands community will open at the first of the year. Next week is the grand opening of the clubhouse, restaurant, and golf shop.

Set to open by the first of the year, Monarch Dunes at the Woodlands, will be the first public golf course to be completed in the mammoth Nipomo Woodlands development.

This is an exciting time for Nipomo, and for all you golfers out there. This will bring to three, the number of major world class courses on the Nipomo Mesa (likely all within 10 miles or less of each other). Currently there is Blacklake, Cypress Ridge, and now Monarch Dunes. I am a horrible golfer; but, I love to get out on the links and have a good time.

The Monarch Dunes will be patterned after the traditional courses of Scotland and Ireland, where golfing has its earliest roots. It will look like the nearby sand dunes, rather than having lots of grassy mounds. And, the sand on the course apparently comes from sand on the site. Several holes will also allow a great view of the ocean:

The Scottish links-styled, 18-hole, 6,800-yard championship course was designed by Damian Pascuzzo, a Cal Poly graduate and partner of Graves and Pascuzzo, a golf architecture firm in El Dorado Hills.

Monarch Dunes will be managed by KemperSports, which also manages Palm Springs' Desert Willow, Black Gold in Yorba Linda and Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco.

"This is truly a unique golf course and the only one in the county patterned after the traditional links in Scotland and Ireland," said Mark Luthman, KemperSports regional director. "It's very rugged looking, with native fescue grasses, beach grasses and natural sand dunes. It mimics the appearance of nearby dunes, using shaped dunes instead of the traditional grassy mounds, and there will be a number of holes from where you can see the ocean."

Pascuzzo said the golf course was built from the sand on the site.

Even more exciting to the local Nipomo economy is the projection of its own shopping center and the potential for a 500 room hotel. These factors are critical to the potential incorporation of Nipomo as a city:

The Woodlands development, which began construction in April 2004, will take 10 to 15 years to build. It will include 1,320 homes, two 18-hole courses and one nine-hole course, a business park, a 500-room hotel, riding and hiking trails, a shopping center, and a 12-acre park.

Next week, take a drive and check out the new local restaurant, and golf shop. And, just after the first of the year, plan to tee up on our newest local course. See you on the links!

Update: More information on the Monarch Dunes can be found here.