Litchfield City Council unanimously approved a plan on Monday for improvements at the Litchfield Golf Course clubhouse.
The proposal calls for spending up to $22,700 to repair the floor in the bar area and excavation near the patio aimed at improving drainage.
These two fixes will go a long way to getting the facility ready for a new restaurant tenant, City Administrator David Cziok told the Council. However, a total improvement project would likely fall in the range of $51,000 to $113,000. Cziok’s list of improvements which he said were not all “immediate in nature” included:
Construction rehabilitation $10,000 to $20,000
Excavation $10,000 to $20,000
Patio repair $16,000 to $48,000
Moisture remediation $5,000 to $30,000
While the list — and cost — might seem extensive, Cziok said, it’s likely the cost would be to the lower end of the range rather than the higher end, based on investigation of the facility by city staff.
Part of City Council’s approval Monday was a bid of $12,750 from Litchfield Building Center to make the bar area floor repairs. A line in that bid that “This is our best estimate…” caused Councilor Betty Allen to raise concern.
“It makes me a little nervous, ‘best estimate,’” Allen said.
“It makes me more nervous having to stand here telling you” about the work that needs to be done and what it might cost, Cziok replied. However, he also expressed confidence in the proposed repair plan.
“This is not a Band-Aid,” Cziok said. “This is a good fix for this.”
The clubhouse restaurant has been empty since Peter’s on Lake Ripley closed at the end of 2019, and the clubhouse’s management — a volunteer board known as Golf Club Inc. — has been actively searching for another tenant while also attempting to have improvements made to the building.
GCI President Brian Johnson appeared before the City Council two weeks ago asking for city collaboration on “a long-term fix with regard to the restaurant,” and clubhouse, which he called “a vital asset to the entire community.”
Johnson proposed, in a letter to Cziok, that would help finance what he said during the meeting could be “north of” $200,000 in needed improvement to the golf club and restaurant.
“Our membership realizes how important this building and restaurant is to our community and how important it is to make these improvements and to find a tenant as soon as we can,” Johnson wrote. “We believe the city should take these measures immediately to reduce the down time this will cause within the community.”
Several Golf Club Inc. representatives, including Johnson, attended Monday’s meeting, but none spoke and all left Council chambers after the approval of Cziok’s proposal for repairs.
