Majority At Hearing Take Swing At Golf For Mercer Island

MERCER ISLAND - Golf went another round last night on Mercer Island, and if the turnout at City Hall was any indication, an overwhelming majority opposes demolishing a woodland to build fairways.

``I promise you all,'' bellowed Seth Landau, who grew up on the island, ``there will be no golf course on Mercer Island.''

But D.J. Hofer disagreed. ``Golf is the hottest thing around,'' he declared. ``There will be a golf course on Mercer Island eventually.''

Offering to listen to any and all who wanted to talk about golf, the Mercer Island City Council spent five hours last night hearing from its park board, three citizens committees, and the audience of about 200.

A tally of speakers revealed 11 favored and 47 opposed the golf course, about the same ratio that has emerged from previous meetings over a 22-year period.

This time, the Park and Community Activities Board has recommended a ballot issue in the fall that would ask if voters want a nine-hole golf course on Mercer Island. Most proponents who spoke last night supported a ballot issue, but Bob Barnitt said FORE, a pro-golf group that he heads, prefers that the city postpone a vote until it knows the cost and environmental effect of the proposal.

The council will take up the issue Sept. 10, when it will consider whether to toss the matter back to the voters for a public vote.

Proponents said they are not asking for all 117 acres of Pioneer Park but only one portion of 40 acres. ``There is room for all of us to enjoy this land,'' said Duane Matthews, who led the unsuccessful fight for a golf course in 1969. On an advisory ballot that year, golf lost 65-35. In 1976, a bond issue that would have built a golf course at another location failed for lack of validation.

Al McMahan sounded a familiar refrain. Because the city provides outlets for baseball, football, tennis, soccer, volleyball, handball, fishing and boating, why can't it do something for golfers?

``Then the city should also consider those of us who like to fly. Widen Island Crest Way for a runway,'' said Phil Flash.

Pioneer Park couldn't become a good golf course, say the opponents. ``Don't make a third-rate golf course out of a first-rate nature park,'' pleaded Chris Fellows. Pioneer Park is covered with 80-year-old trees.

June Lindsey, a leader of the 1969 fight to preserve the park, said that ``if we have a vote and the golfers win, they'll win forever; but if we win again, we have to come back and fight again and again.''

``It's a problem of how we talk about our land,'' she continued. ``They consider the park `vacant land.' But it should be called a nature preserve or a forest preserve.''

Don Cohen said preservation of the park does not need to be justified. ``It's the reverse: golfers need to prove there's a compelling need and convincing evidence for a golf course,'' he said. And it's a myth that a golf course can be built without spending taxpayers' money, he said.

Another myth, he said, is that a ballot would be ``the fairest and most responsible step the council can take. Even if it were established that people want a golf course - as I don't think it would be - and the public were willing to assume the environmental risks, the council ought to decide it's important for this and future generations that the park be preserved. I urge you,'' he concluded, ``to take the responsible and bold step of recognizing and designating Pioneer Park as a natural park.''