Golf course plan has holes

The plan by Mayor Allan Mansoor and parks and recreation commission chairwoman Wendy Leece to gut the Mesa Linda golf course at the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club and to convert the land to lighted playing fields for soccer and other sports has more holes in it than the beloved Mesa Linda course itself ("Plan swaps golf holes for fields," May 28). The only thing worse than the plan is the presumptuous way it was unveiled in a letter to the Daily Pilot with no apparent attempt to consult with any of the principals involved.

In a memorandum to the mayor dated May 26, City Manager Allan Roeder summarizes many issues relative to the mayor's idea, based on an earlier conversation the two had, describing a possible scenario for pursuing the mayor's idea and concluding that he "would strongly encourage a cautious, inclusive, open and well-detailed process for considering this possibility." That, of course, didn't happen.

Mesa Verde Partners operates the country club under a bilateral agreement with the city and can apparently nix the plan simply by saying "no." To my knowledge, they haven't been consulted.

It appears, as well, none of the three golf associations ? the Men's Club, the Women's Club and the Senior Golf Assn. (of which I am a member) ? have been consulted. The Mesa Linda course is especially popular with senior golfers, offering an affordable, shorter and more walkable course than the longer, hillier Los Lagos course. It is busy year 'round, from dawn to dusk.

The Mesa Linda course is home to our local high school golf teams, which practice and compete there. They haven't been consulted either.

Seemingly, organizations like AYSO and Pop Warner football would someday benefit from the Mansoor/Leece proposed swap, but it doesn't appear that they were advised of the plan either, and I wonder how they feel about being thrown into a controversy with all of the above-named groups, without their prior knowledge.