SOGAGG Colleagues,
From today's San Diego U-T. Hope this one happens. The last attempt (Top
Golf) on Harbor Island didn't make it through the process.
Best,
/Ace
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Luxury golf range proposed
Mira Mesa facility would be first in Southern California
By David Garrick
SAN DIEGO
San Diego may soon get a new kind of attraction that has been popping up all
over the country: a combination driving range, events venue, sports bar and
restaurant.
A local developer is proposing a project modeled on the popular Topgolf
chain in a relatively undeveloped part of Mira Mesa, just west of the El
Camino Memorial Park cemetery and just south of Carroll Canyon Road.
The 55,000-square-foot golf and entertainment complex would feature three
stories of driving range bays that would be lighted at night, an events
venue large enough for weddings, and a large restaurant with games and TVs
showing sports.
It would be the first such venue in Southern California. The nearest golf
and entertainment complex is near Sacramento, and a similar facility has
been proposed near Los Angeles International Airport.
Such venues have been popularized in recent years by Topgolf, which operates
more than 50 golf and entertainment complexes around the world, including
facilities near Seattle and Portland.
The facility planned for Mira Mesa would feature 75 driving range bays. It
would replace the Sorrento Canyon Golf Center, which opened on the 18-acre
site more than 25 years ago and features a ground-level driving range with
limited amenities.
"It's going to be an awesome project," said Greg Lansing of Lansing
Companies, the local developer pursuing the project. "We think it's a
phenomenal location."
Games available on-site will likely include cornhole, billiards and many
others, he said.
The venue will create a new after-work option for the many employees at
companies clustered in Mira Mesa and nearby Sorrento Valley and University
City, Lansing said. But it may also draw customers from across the region,
he said.
The site is more than 2 miles from any residential housing, making the
nighttime activities unlikely to disturb anyone. The planned extension of
Carroll Canyon Road would absorb any additional traffic generated by the new
venue.
Lansing said the venue could open as early as 2022, but many hurdles must be
overcome before that can happen.
The San Diego Planning Commission last week approved initiating a community
plan amendment - a change to Mira Mesa's growth blueprint - to allow the
project.
Planning Commissioners said the developer also will need approvals from
multiple state and federal agencies, because the site is in a flood plain
and a wildlife corridor.
In addition, the nets and lighting planned for the driving range may disturb
birds and other wildlife in the area.
While commissioners expressed some skepticism, they also praised the
project.
"This sounds like, if it actually comes to fruition, it can be a really cool
place," Commissioner Vicki Granowitz said.
While community opposition is also possible, the Mira Mesa Community
Planning Group voted 18-0 in favor of the project last month.
"It's a nice little amenity," Jeffrey Steven, the group's chairman, said
last week. "And it's in kind of an isolated spot."
Lansing said another positive is that the new venue won't have a larger
footprint than the existing golf range on the site, which is at 5605 Carroll
Canyon Road.
The City Council must first approve the community plan amendment. Then
Lansing must propose the actual project in much more detail before it can be
considered by the planning group, the commission and then the council.
david.garrick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
