Closure
Closure
County should buy course for residents
I have just learned that the Kona Country Club yesterday gave all employees two weeks notice of termination. According to my source, an employee, the club is closing permanently and is not planning to maintain the fairways. In my view, this could be a catastrophe for our community on many levels. You will remember the negative impact when the Kona Surf Hotel closed, and remained closed for years. Kona Country Club is owned by the same individual who owned the hotel. He has owned many major properties in Hawaii, and to the best of my knowledge, every one has closed or gone into foreclosure.
In the dry sea level climate of Keauhou, it will not be long before the fairways and greens turn brown and die. It will be a 36-hole blight. Furthermore, these two 18-hole golf courses provide the leach field for the sewage treatment plant. Once employees stop irrigating the fairways, the reservoir will overflow, which is probably a violation of federal and state laws. That wastewater must continue to be used for irrigation. The ocean course has already been closed for about a month for irrigation repairs, and the fairways are already starting to brown, even as employees have been spreading water.
There has been a persistent rumor that Kona Country Club is fee simple and not leased from Kamehameha Schools. I can not verify that.
This potential catastrophe could be turned into a windfall for our community, if the club could be acquired by the county and turned into a municipal golf course with associated park lands. With kamaaina rates, and favorable visitor rates, at least one 18-hole course could be very successful. Kona Country Club has been in decline and has been operating as a marginal facility for many years through mismanagement and by discouraging kamaaina use, failing to attract visitors in important numbers and under-utilizing it’s restaurant facilities.
But time is of the essence. The fairway grass and greens are already dying. Once the facilities are allowed to deteriorate, it will be very expensive and not practical to rejuvenate them. Remember the Lagoon Hotel, which is now gone. Even though this property is in Councilman Dru Kanuha’s district, I believe that every councilmember needs to be apprised and hopefully energized to take action.
Howard R. Conant
Kona