Manteca has come up with a solution that may drastically reduce golf balls that sail over a 60-foot net and raise havoc in the Golf Villas neighborhood.
Kevin Fant, Deputy Director of Public Works, is recommending installing new concrete tees, mats and dividers angled to the west at the Manteca Municipal Golf Course’s driving range.
The $150,000 proposal is before the Manteca City Council when they meet Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Staff is recommending the council take the money to do the work from the Self Insurance/Risk Management Fund.
The change is expected to drastically reduce the number of golf balls — some residents place it at hundreds a month — that rain down on the neighborhood on the southwest corner of Union Road and Crom Street.
The city for years has rejected claims for damages the errant golf balls cause.
It’s because it would be admitting liability.
That said, residents have periodically complained to the city about errant golf balls.
Aside from replacing damaged nets, the city previously took a hands off approach given they weren’t legally responsible for the problem.
However, the current city management and council have taken a different tact.
The buyers of homes in the Golf Villas sign documents when they close escrow on mortgages that they hold the city harmless for golf ball related damages.
It was a condition the developer of the neighborhood had to agree to in order to build homes adjacent to the golf course where the front nine was created on the site of the city’s former municipal landfill.
The back 9 holes is where the city’s wastewater treatment plant was located decades ago.
Golf balls are always an issue for people who reside next to a golf course.
It is rare, however, that residential development occurs parallel to a driving range especially in the higher density that Golf Villas was built.
The city required developers of the 114 duplexes now under construction on the south side of the golf course near Airport Way to dedicate a 150-foot wide golf ball easement as well.
The easement holds the city harmless for any damage that may occur to 12 homes being built within the 150-foot wide easement.
Buyers of the homes are required to be made aware of the easement that means they can’t seek reimbursement from the city for damages caused by errant golf balls.
The city — or anyone else for that matter — will have no right to retrieve golf balls that may end up in yards.
The new neighborhood is going immediately south of the 99-home Yosemite Greens neighborhood.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
