St. Paul golf courses may soon be allowed to add lighting \u2014 which could lead to later hours \u2014 under changes to an odd zoning restriction scheduled for a city council vote Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The proposed ordinance would remove restrictions prohibiting lighting on golf courses \u2014 as well as miniature golf.<\/p>\n
City officials say they are unsure why those provisions exist. Lighting is already allowed at other outdoor sports facilities, and miniature golf exists elsewhere in the city.<\/p>\n
The amendments were requested by the Parks and Recreation Department, which installed lighting around the Highland National Golf Course driving range last year. The lights allowed the city to extend the hours of winter recreation, including cross-country skiing, on the course.<\/p>\n
The department hopes to do the same during the golf season at the Highland National driving range.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know how quickly it gets dark in the winter months, and the lights allowed us to groom trails and provide winter programming later into the evening,\u201d wrote St. Paul Public Service Manager Clare Cloyd in an email statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe received positive feedback from residents who were able to utilize the facilities after work or when it was otherwise not available due to darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five golf courses<\/p>\n
St. Paul has five golf courses. The city owns four public courses, managed by a private partner, while Town and Country Club operates one private course.<\/p>\n
The proposal would allow Highland National\u2019s driving range to remain open until 9 p.m., with the lights staying on until 10 p.m. so crews can collect range balls and complete maintenance after closing. The driving range now closes at dusk and often shuts down early so staff can retrieve range balls.<\/p>\n
The lights only illuminate the driving range area, not the course.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith lighting, we have better flexibility to be open to the public during prime times and still ensure we can complete the maintenance work that needs to take place,\u201d Cloyd wrote.<\/p>\n
Lighting is also used at Como Park Golf Course during the winter to illuminate cross-country ski trails, but since there\u2019s no driving range, Cloyd said it\u2019s less likely that it\u2019s considered for extended hours.<\/p>\n
There are no current plans to add additional lighting at other city courses as of now.<\/p>\n
Como Park Golf Course currently closes at 9 p.m., and Phalen Park Golf Course, which has a driving range but no lighting installed, closes at 10 p.m.<\/p>\n
The extended hours also might generate additional revenue for the city, she said.<\/p>\n
City officials found that the zoning code places restrictions on golf courses that do not apply to other outdoor sports facilities, including soccer and baseball fields.<\/p>\n
According to city documents, officials do not expect the changes to create significant neighborhood impacts following a public engagement process.<\/p>\n
Kurt Carlson, who occasionally golfs at Highland National, said the city council should approve the zoning changes.<\/p>\n
Carlson said family members who live near the course have raised concerns about the brightness of the lights, but he said a 10 p.m. cutoff is reasonable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they think they can generate a little more revenue, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An end to a mini golf ban?<\/p>\n
The proposal would also eliminate a ban on miniature golf courses at golf facilities.<\/p>\n
Cloyd said there are no current plans to add miniature golf at any of the city\u2019s courses, but the ordinance would allow for future consideration. Miniature golf could be another way for the city to generate revenue, Cloyd added.<\/p>\n
Carlson said he would support adding miniature golf, if space allows, because it could introduce more beginners and families to the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cMini golf is fun,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it gets people interested in golf, that\u2019s fine; I\u2019m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city council is scheduled to vote on the ordinance at its Aug. 5 meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Paul golf courses may soon be allowed to add lighting \u2014 which could lead to later hours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,23135,983,99,32342],"class_list":["post-797892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-highland-park","tag-local-news","tag-sports","tag-st-paul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}