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Driving range lives on with lease extension

County commissioners let the Ace Golf Range remain open for at least three more years.

By JACKIE RIPLEY
Published May 13, 2005

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - A popular driving range that sits atop a closed landfill on W Linebaugh Avenue has been given a reprieve.

Instead of closing next year, it will stay open for at least three more years.

"It kind of felt like we got some breathing room," said Bill Place, owner of Ace Golf Range. "But it doesn't mean it's completely over."

That's because the county wants to double the size of its waste processing station that sits on the former landfill. And the driving range sits on part of that landfill.

Consequently, it looked as if the golf range would close, despite its popularity and support from residents and homeowners associations.

Hillsborough County commissioners, however, decided last week to put that possibility on hold and delayed plans to expand the waste processing station.

Commissioners extended the golf range's lease two more years and told the county's solid waste department to look at other expansion options.

Ace Golf Range's lease was to end in June 2006.

"It was a win-win for everybody," Place said. "I didn't get exactly what I would like to have, and the county is going to look to see if there's another way to do this thing."

Daryl Smith, director of the county's solid waste department, told commissioners that the county needs the 15 acres on the northeast corner of the site, where the range sits, to queue up traffic. Otherwise, traffic jams will continue to plague Linebaugh.

It also needs room to build a new $17-million transfer facility.

Smith told commissioners that using the golf site for the expansion was the least expensive alternative. However, he could not provide an exact figure when asked how much the project would cost if it was placed elsewhere on the 160-acre site.

"The bottom line is that something does not seem right in this picture, and I would caution us to slow the train down a little bit and step back," said County Commissioner Ken Hagan. "There are too many unanswered questions."

As a result, the board directed county staffers to prepare a comprehensive study detailing how much it would cost to place the new facility on other parts of the landfill property.

And because the driving range's lease would most likely run out before the study was complete, commissioners extended the lease two more years.

"It was not a not-in-my-back-yard kind of thing," Place said. "It was more that we've got 100 more acres at that site. A transfer station belongs out of view."

Jackie Ripley can be reached at 813 269-5308 or ripley@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 12, 2005, 00:28:09]