Golf course construction set to tee off

Work to begin next week after decade-plus delay

2003 opening planned

Compass Pointe to include 36 holes and driving range

Pasadena

County golfers, rejoice.

After more than a decade of delays, county officials said yesterday that construction of a public golf course in Pasadena will begin next week, and golfers are expected to be able to tee off there by spring 2003.

Financed by $18 million in construction bonds sold by Maryland Economic Development Corp., Compass Pointe Golf Course will take shape on 734 county-owned acres south of Fort Smallwood Road, across from Tar Cove Park.

The course will include a driving range, a clubhouse and two 18-hole courses. One course, the Links, is intended to capture the look and feel of a windswept Scottish course. The second will be a traditional American design, with tree-lined fairways, bunkers and lakes.

County officials said the bondholders will be paid with revenue from Compass Pointe, which they expect to draw golf enthusiasts from throughout the Baltimore region.

"Hallelujah and amen," Dennis Callahan, the county director of recreation and parks, said of the course's construction schedule. "There is only one public course in the county for [nearly] 500,000 people. This will make us a destination for golf."

Eisenhower Golf Course in Crownsville is the only public course in the county.

Callahan said fees at the new course, at $35 for 18 holes (including a golf cart), will give golfers affordable options compared with private clubs.

"There will be very competitive rates," he said.

Casper Management, which manages the Eisenhower Golf Course, also will run the new course, county officials said.

In addition to the golf course, county recreation and parks officials said, 174 houses will be built nearby by private developers, an aspect of the project that will enhance the area and boost property values, they said.

"If you go down there now, one part of the area has been used as a dumping site by small contractors," Callahan said. "We're going to see a dramatic change in that area" when construction of the golf course begins.

The effort to build a public golf course in Pasadena began in 1990 and has been marked by delays and difficulties since the county bought 150 acres on the peninsula during the administration of County Executive O. James Lighthizer, a Democrat who served from 1982 to 1990. At the time, the county did not have enough land to build an 18-hole course, Callahan said.

Republican John G. Gary, whose term as county executive ended three years ago, negotiated an agreement with developers Gary Koch and Michael Rose in which they donated land for the course in exchange for increased housing density for communities to be built nearby.

Last year, the project was delayed again when Land Links, a golf course management and development company, and three Maryland golf courses threatened to sue Maryland Economic Development Corp. a week before the quasi-public, nonprofit agency was to sell bonds for the Compass Pointe project.

The threat of legal action raised questions about what types of projects the agency was permitted to finance with its tax-free bonding authority.

The General Assembly passed emergency legislation in March that broadened the agency's charter and cleared the way for construction of Compass Pointe.

"I am excited that this long, circuitous journey to bring a long-awaited golf course to Anne Arundel County is a reality," County Executive Janet S. Owens said yesterday in a statement.

"It's full speed ahead," Callahan said.