Alling Memorial Golf Course: Fees bumped.
Laura Glesby photo
Tom Verderame pitches fare in November.
Local golfers will have to pay slightly more to hit the links in Fair Haven Heights come April — as alders signed off on a higher fee schedule for the Alling Memorial Golf Club that still makes the Eastern Street venue less expensive than courses in Hamden, Woodbridge, or Orange.
The Board of Alders approved that new pay scale for the public golf course on Monday evening.
The new change means, for instance, that a New Haven or East Haven resident who wishes to play a full 18-hole round of golf on a weekend will have pay $32, compared to the previous rate of $28 (or $22 for those aged 62 or older).
That’s still significantly lower than, say, Hamden’s Laurel View Country Club, which charges Hamden residents and non-residents alike $50 for a full round on a weekend.
Annual season pass charges are also slated to increase — from $600 to $700, for example, for New Haven and East Haven-based adults under 61, or from $800 to $1,000 for non-resident adults under 61.
The Board of Alders on Monday.
At a previous meeting of the Board of Alders Finance Committee in late November, Parks Executive Administrative Assistant Tom Verderame told alders that the fare increase “will help us keep the course in playable condition.”
When then-Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Steven Winter asked Verderame what the increased revenue would fund, Verderame replied, “There are lots of needed repairs” — including a new irrigation system and new equipment — at the Fair Haven Heights-based golf course.
During the public hearing portion of the committee meeting, David Palowsky, who plays at the golf course, spoke in favor of the increase.
“There’s needs at the golf course,” Palowsky said, from cart paths to drainage to tree-planting. “Our fee structure has the lowest fees in this area,” he said. An average fare increase of $2 is “not gonna stop anyone” from playing.
Two regular golfers at Alling then spoke up against the fare raises.
Joseph Hamilton called on alders to reject the fee increases due to the “blighted buildings” at the golf course. He said that the buildings are uninhabitable when it rains.
Fran Limone, president of the New Haven Golf Club, called the state of the buildings “almost an embarrassment.”
“We need some place safe, clean,” Limone said.
The new daily fare schedule — as compared to Hamden’s Lauren View, Woodbridge’s Tradition Oak Lane, and Orange’s Orange Hills golf courses — slated for April 2023.
New season pass rates.
The existing fare schedule.