Palm Desert Country Club Set To Get Cleaned Up
PALM DESERT – The City of Palm Desert authorized spending $2,300 to clean up dry brush at a local country club golf course, it was reported today.
More than a week after a Los Angeles bankruptcy court approved a $300,000 loan to the owners of Palm Desert Country Club, residents at the bankrupt club as well as city officials are impatient for the start of a promised clean-up of the increasingly brown and dry golf course, according to the Desert Sun.
“It is bone dry. It crunches under your feet when you walk on it,” said resident Jim Dieterich, who lives on a fairway, according to the Desert Sun.
The Palm Desert City Council voted in closed session Thursday to send its own crews to the course, possibly on Monday, to remove several piles of dried grass and branches that city inspectors said are fire hazards, the newspaper reported.
“We gave Palm Desert Country Club a notice to abate the fire hazard 10 days ago,” City Manager John Wohlmuth told the paper. “At this point, the city’s going to do it.”
The council authorized around $2,300 for the job, which city officials hope to recover from the owners, Wohlmuth told the paper.
“We have no problem with the city coming and removing this stuff,” said Dave Simmons, general manager at the club.
He told the paper that the club’s owners were unable to get the job done because the loan has taken longer than expected to finalize.
Owners Randy Case, Larry Kosmont and Dahoon Investment Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 19, with the aim of restructuring more than $1 million in debt.
On Oct. 13, the $300,000 debtor-in-possession loan — a type of loan for companies in Chapter 11 — was approved by the U.S. Central District Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, according to the Desert Sun.
As part of the loan agreement the owners committed to cleaning up the course, according to the Desert Sun.
When the money comes through, Simmons said, work could start this weekend on reseeding the course, allowing the club to open in about a month, according to the Desert Sun.
