Mendota Heights Par 3 Golf Course Earnings Dip, Kensington Park Playground Project Ready for Citizens' Ideas

Dreaming of green? So is the Mendota Heights Par 3 golf course, which incurred an operating loss last year while still maintaining a healthy budget balance.

That was the message presented to the Mendota Heights Parks and Recreation Commission at their regular monthly meeting Tuesday. The panel also discussed a need for more public feedback on the Kensington Park playground project as it moves through the planning stages. Kensington Park is located in the southeast corner of the city between Mendota Heights Road and Interstate 494.

Mary McGrory-Usset attended her first meeting as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner after being appointed by the city council in February.

The Par 3 golf course’s annual report is scheduled to be reviewed by the city council at its March 15 meeting before it will be posted on the Mendota Heights city website.

The report shows that, while the course lost approximately $5,963 in 2010–with much of that deficit attributed to the loss of golf rounds due to bad weather–the course ended the year with a balance above the minimum set by the city.

“(Our goal) is that citizens will not pay the course’s operating costs,” Sedlacek said after the commission’s meeting. City administrators expect the course to carry over a $40,000 budget balance from year to year. Despite the net loss in 2010, the Par 3 course will carry a balance of $42,527 into the 2011 season. The course's total revenues for 2010 were $176,996, down from $195,570 in 2009. Those 2009 revenues at the course had dramatically spiked from the $186,532 the course earned in 2008.

Despite unusually warm weather that allowed the course to open during March in 2010, 550 fewer rounds of golf were played last year than in 2009. Between 2008 and 2010 the course saw a nearly $10,000 decline in revenues brought in from programs such as its women's league and juniors program, a trend Sedlacek emphasized is consistent with decreasing participation in golf across the industry.

Kensington Park plans brewing
To get more resident feedback for the Kensington Park playground project, the commission plans to host a public open house at the park site, and is considering providing an online survey.

Aimed at replacing the playground equipment in Kensington Park, the project has been in the works in Mendota Heights since October 2010. Commission members stressed the need to get feedback from the community regarding the most useful types of playground equipment for the roughly 30,000-foot space. The city has currently budgeted $52,000 for the project from the parks fund, a sum several commission members worried would be too low to adequately outfit the park.

Members of the commission also expressed concern that proper drainage be installed at the time of construction, as parts of Kensington Park have a tendency to flood. Mendota Heights will be soliciting bids from playground equipment vendors in the coming months, although no detailed timeline for the project currently exists.

Members of the Parks and Recreation Commission emphasized that they would like to see a firmer time line developed wherein construction on the playground would begin by the first week in September.

"We really have an obligation to follow through on their (Mendota Heights residents) true wishes," said commission chair Ray Morris, referring to the importance of getting good feedback about the playground.