Black Gold, developer fees, Nixon property

Let's catch up on some matters that merit attention:

--Although few conservatively governed cities own golf courses, Yorba Linda's Black Gold Golf Club has always enjoyed near-unanimous support from the city's elected leadership due to the prestige of the course's top-tier ranking and the potential to add cash to the municipal treasury.

The latest figures from KemperSports, hired by the city to manage Black Gold, show the course's industry ratings remain high and the facility's net income is increasing – but still a bit shy of the revenues that were estimated at the beginning of the 2013-14 budget year.

Here are the numbers: for the recently completed fiscal year, green fee revenue was 102.1 percent and food and beverage income 105.5 percent of the prior year, but green fee revenue was 99.4 percent and food and beverage income 95.1 percent of anticipated amounts.

And while golf shop and driving range incomes were 96.9 and 96.7 percent of the prior year, revenues were 103.5 and 99.7 percent of estimates in the budget set at the start of the year.

All of that translates into total revenues close to $5.8 million, with net operating income re-ported at $560,534, or $282,698, after investing $277,836 back into the 219-acre property.

Officials estimated 117,680 individual visitors at Black Gold in 2013-14: golf rounds, 57,476; practice facility, 14,022; weddings, 9,700; banquets and meetings, 12,700; events and tournaments, 11,000; and a la carte dining, 12,782.

Also, the City Council has approved adjustments to pricing expected to increase green fee and driving range income from $30,000 to $50,000 each year, depending on player counts.

--The council has closed an apparent loophole in the type of residential development that triggers fees developers must pay the city to fund new or rehabilitate existing park and recreational facilities, as allowed by state legislation.

Previously, the city collected a fee for each single- and multi-family residential unit built under a tentative tract or parcel map, a fee boosted to $9,030 for each single-family and $5,790 for each multi-family unit last year.

Now, the same fees will apply to developments that don't require such maps. The fees are based on formulas that call for three acres of parkland per 1,000 population, an appraisal of $1 million per acre and 3.01 persons per single-family and 1.93 persons per multi-family unit.

--One of the most controversial development proposals in city history occurred in 1985 for the land now occupied by the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, when top-level city staffers recommended approval of a 61-unit condominium project for 6.1 acres of the site.

Council's reaction and the number of condo units eventually approved will be among the topics of a presentation I'll make at the Monday, Jan. 12, public meeting of the Yorba Linda Historical Society at 7 p.m. in the Game Room at the Community Center.