StoneRidge owner exploring housing option

The owner of the StoneRidge Country Club has hired a public relations firm to solicit comments from local voters about how they might feel about homes being built on the golf course.

Over the past several weeks there has been a commissioned telephone poll, visits to the owners of homes bordering the golf course and interviews with both club members and high-propensity voters from across the city.

The voter outreach is being conducted because any attempt by owner Michael Schlesinger to build homes would require a citywide vote because of Proposition FF, a ballot measure approved in November 1988 to preserve the low density residential character of the city’s rural residential and open space zones. The StoneRidge Country Club is on land zoned open space-recreational. Prior to going to the voters, Schlesinger would need a General Plan amendment and a zoning change.

Nothing has been submitted to the city by Schlesinger, although he and city representatives have met twice in the past year to discuss Prop. FF, according to Assistant City Manager Tina White.

The city in December 2014 commissioned a consultant to prepare a study of the pros and cons of the city possibly acquiring the 18-hole golf course and associated amenities. The resulting 59-page report, by ProForma Advisors, Ltd., paints a generally guarded and somewhat-pessimistic picture.

“Given the age of the facility and the level of deferred maintenance, substantial capital improvements are required at StoneRidge Country Club,” the January 2015 report noted.

The city paid $12,540 for the report. White on Monday said the city requested the study after hearing reports that the golf course was struggling financially and that Schlesinger was having trouble finding a buyer.

Opened in 1962, StoneRidge includes an 18-hole regulation golf course, an unlighted practice range, nine lighted tennis courts, a junior Olympic swimming pool, a clubhouse of approximately 15,000 square feet, a pro shop and related facilities.

Schlesinger listed the 117-acre private country club for sale but took it off the market last May, according to Diane Gaynor, executive vice president of Roni Hicks public relations firm. She and her team have been charged with reaching out to country club neighbors and Poway voters to judge whether there is enough support for building an undetermined number of residences on the golf course to warrant moving ahead with plans.

Between mid-February and mid-March, Gaynor and her team knocked on the doors of 201 of the 299 homes that are adjacent to the golf course. There have been group meetings with the men’s and women’s clubs at the country club and with key community leaders. Three weeks ago she organized a focus group interview with about a dozen voters from throughout the city. This past week several hundred telephone surveys were conducted as well, she said.

“The intent of all this is to understand what are all the factors that should be considered before any kind of exercise begins,” Gaynor said. She declined to share any of the early public opinion results, saying the information was proprietary.

According to Gaynor, Schlesinger is considering a wide variety of possible options involving the future of the country club.

“While Mr. Schlesinger has stated that he wants to keep the course open, he is looking at all potential land uses, and varieties of each, to help provide a source of revenue to sustain the course and clubhouse,” Gaynor said Tuesday. “What he does know is that after a couple years of implementing changes (adjusting membership fees, eliminating food minimums, etc.), he understands that StoneRidge’s current operation structure as a private membership course is not working.”

Schlesinger, a Beverly Hills resident, made news when he purchased the struggling Escondido Country Club in 2012, then closed the facility and proposed building 430 residences on the 110 acres. The City Council opposed the move and rezoned the land for open space. Schlesinger sued and placed a November 2014 measure on the ballot to overturn the city’s decision. The measure failed, collecting only 39 percent support.

In October 2015 Schlesinger and the city reached an agreement allowing the Escondido land to be developed for residential purposes, but by someone other than Schlesinger.

On Tuesday night, a Schlesinger representative attended the City Counci lmeeting to present a $5,000 check for the Tony Gwynn Memorial construction fund.