Abstract
Golf has declined in recent years as younger generations fail to take up the sport leaving many municipally-owned golf courses in financial trouble. As cities face numerous growing challenges such as housing, public transit and the lack of public greenspaces, closing municipal golf courses has been touted as a possible solution. While municipal golf courses are open to the public, barriers to entry such as a dress code and green fees have left them inaccessible to many residents making them not truly public spaces. Municipal golf courses however do have benefits such as providing an affordable golfing experience in an urban setting. This research paper will look at how municipalities can better utilize their golf course lands with a focus on two City of Toronto municipal golf courses: Scarlett Woods Golf Course and Dentonia Park Golf Course. This paper highlights the different options cites could employ to adapt their golf facilities. Key Words: golf, golf courses, parks and recreation, Toronto, redevelopment, adaptation, parks and physical activity, Scarlett Woods, Dentonia Park,
Highlights
Introduction The City ofToronto currently owns and operates a vast array of parks, playgrounds and sporting facilities across the city
As golf declines and land values rises across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), suburban golf courses have become a target for developers looking to build and cash in on the lucrative GTA housing market
Dentonia Park is situated in Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) regulated lands and TRCA designated floodplain lands unlike Scarlett Woods, these designations do not apply to the entire property
Summary
Toronto currently owns and operates a vast array of parks, playgrounds and sporting facilities across the city. As the City of Toronto struggles to generate revenue and manage its operating budget, the idea of closing some golf courses has been suggested to remove the financial burden from the City’s books (Goffin, 2018) Beyond financial issues, another frequently cited negative of the golf courses is that they have barriers to entry, remain closed for five months of the year and are not truly public lands. This paper will examine what specific adaptations can be made to publicly owned golf courses with a specific focus on two City of Toronto golf courses; Scarlett Woods and Dentonia Park These two courses were chosen because they have frequently lost money in recent years and were two of the courses Jennifer Keesmaat proposed closing. Recommendations will be drawn, and the outcome of this research should provide a clearer picture of what would be the most efficient and beneficial uses of public golf course lands for a municipality
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