Cypress : Los Alamitos Course to Close Nine Holes

The Los Alamitos Golf Course, whose owners recently failed to win approval for a proposal to build an industrial park on the property, will close nine of its 18 holes.

Signs posted a week ago say that the closure will come Jan. 1, according to Ray Swedo, director of the 100-acre course. He declined to comment on the reason for the partial closure. Officials of Hollywood Park Realty Inc., which owns the course and sought to build on the property, did not return telephone calls Wednesday.

Last October, the firm won preliminary City Council approval for a 160-acre project on a 3-2 vote. But angry golfers fought back and collected enough signatures to launch a special election. In November, the council reversed its earlier decision to approve the project, which would have eliminated the golf course, in light of the strong opposition.

A spokesman for the golfers said Wednesday that the partial closure is in retaliation against them for their successful opposition to the development proposal.

“There’s no rational reason (to close nine holes) that I’m aware of other than they’re mad at losing the development,” said Roger Geyer, who organized golfers who opposed the project.

Geyer acknowledged, however, that Hollywood Park can close the nine holes or the entire course at will.

He said, though, that golfers who play that course will lose interest in it if only nine holes are available. “For the players in my club, nine holes is nothing to them,” he said. He added that golfers are not planning to retaliate.

City Planning Director Kris Eynon said that the city does not know what Hollywood Park wants to do with the land and that no further development plans have been submitted.