Suffolk to seek public input on plan to lease Sleepy Hole

SUFFOLK

The City Council will hold a public hearing tonight on a proposal to lease Sleepy Hole Golf Course to a private company for 20 years.

The terms require the winning bidder to build several new buildings, including an 11,300-square-foot clubhouse and restaurant to replace the trailer that currently serves as a pro shop.

Also included: a new cart and storage area, a new maintenance facility and a 3,500-square-foot outdoor pavilion to serve large outings.

The course has consistently lost money for the city since Suffolk bought it from Portsmouth in 2002.

Local golf professionals and course operators have expressed surprise at the city's plans and skepticism at how the new lease holder is going to turn a profit.

"The cost of maintaining a large clubhouse like that is just astronomical," said Glen Pierce, the director of golf at Virginia Beach National and Heron Ridge Golf Club.

Instead of subsidizing the course as it has until now, the city will seek annual payments of $350,000 under terms of the new lease. That can be offset by the capital investments that the leaseholder makes.

Suffolk has spent at least $1.35 million subsidizing Sleepy Hole since 2004. The city says its golf fund is $1.47 million in the hole, a deficit it will have to absorb or write off in its general fund, according to a statement released by the city's spokeswoman in response to questions about the course's finances.

"The revenues over the several years of existence did not match or exceed the expenditures required to operate a golf course," the city's statement said.

The golf fund includes expenses for the bond principal and interest that was used to buy the course from Portsmouth, plus the cost of equipment and course upgrades.

Ronnie Rountree, the current course operator, is in line for the lease, although the council must approve the deal. His proposal was the only one the city received when it sought offers last spring. He is a member of the city's planning commission.

Last month, in advance of tonight's scheduled public hearing, the city publicized one more notice seeking bids, this time with the more specific building requirements and terms.

Rountree said some of the details matched his offer, but he declined to discuss specifics, including how much he might have to raise green fees. "I'm not saying prices won't go up, because prices need to go up anyway," he said.

Situated along the Nansemond River, Sleepy Hole Golf Course was once a regular stop on the LPGA tour. At least two local course operators expressed interest in bidding for it this spring when they learned the city was not requiring the new lease holder to renovate the historic Obici mansion that sits next to the 18th hole.

The City Council has yet to say what it plans to do with that building.

Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com