County to seek private operator for Belmont course

Golfers, rejoice: Belmont Golf Course isn't going anywhere.

Months of speculation and discussion about the future of the county- owned Lakeside course have led Henrico officials on a thorough journey – and, ultimately, a circular one that returned them to a familiar place.

Henrico Recreation and Parks Director Neil Luther last week recommended that the county's Board of Supervisors seek bids from private companies that want to lease the course from, and operate it for, Henrico.

The county will issue a request for proposal this week or next, Luther said, and supervisors could select a new operator by November, then turn control of the course over by Jan. 1.

Instead of requiring an operator to pay a direct lease fee, county officials will create a capital reserve fund for the course and require the operator to contribute an as-yet unspecified percentage of gross annual revenues from the course to it. That money will provide for future improvement or renovation needs, Luther said.

Luther anticipates that bidders will propose lease terms of 15 to 20 years or more – long enough to allow the investment to be financially worthwhile, he said. Henrico will continue to own the course and the land at the site.

The idea to turn the course over to a private operator is the same concept county officials had last year; in fact, they even solicited and received a handful of proposals then from interested firms.

But at the time, officials balked at a request made by each firm: that the county pay for much-needed renovations to the course first.

That caused a stalemate that prompted the matter to be put on hold. Then in January, supervisors voted to authorize a master-plan process for the site, during which the county hosted three public meetings to solicit input about what to do with the course, which Henrico purchased in 1977 from the Hermitage Country Club.

The process could have meant the end of golf at the site, but citizens responded loudly.

"The message was really clear," Luther said. "There was a strong desire to keep Belmont in use as a golf course."

With that in mind, Luther and his office recommended that supervisors take the step that they hadn't wanted to take last year and provide the selected private operator with $500,000 to be used to repair and rehabilitate deteriorating sand bunkers throughout the course.

In exchange, the county will require that the new operator support youth golf in the county through a variety of methods, including through the provision of free course time for Henrico high school teams to host tournaments at Belmont.

Belmont has lost close to $1 million total during the past four fiscal years – an amount that county officials considered unsustainable. The number of rounds played at the course annually decreased from 55,000 during fiscal year 1992 to 22,000 in fiscal year 2018.

Some of that decline reflected national downward trends in golf course traffic but some of it, citizens said, was the result of the course's poor condition and inability to serve alcohol – something county code forbids at all Henrico parks).

Both of those issues will disappear once the new operator takes over, Luther said.

The operator would set all course fees and be responsible for all maintenance and upkeep, he said. Aside from its annual contribution to the capital reserve fund, the operator would keep all revenues, too.

Transfer of operation of the golf course to a private entity would not impact the Belmont Recreation Center, the tennis courts or the parking lot at the site, Luther said; each would continue to be operated and managed by the county.