Disc Golf Banished From Schweitzer Grove Despite Protests

Local disc golf enthusiasts will soon have to venture out of the area to enjoy their beloved activity, as the Carmichael Recreation and Park District's Board voted Thursday to discontinue the popular sport at Schweitzer Grove.

Much to the dismay of disc golfers, but with the backing of some nearby neighbors, the nature area will be available until May 1 for those wanting to enjoy the game. What happens next, however, depends on whether disc golf enthusiasts want to work with CRPD staff to create such facilities at Carmichael Park, said District Administrator Jack Harrison.

“We're hoping they will be, because we like the idea of having a disc golf course in our park district,” he said. “We don't want to build a disc golf course in Carmichael Park if there's no interest.”

After two community meetings on the subject and a staff report with recommendations on how to proceed, the advisory board voted 3-1 Thursday night to discontinue allowing disc golf at Schweitzer Grove with the option to give Carmichael Park such amenities. Board member Michael Rockenstein cast the dissenting vote, while board member Barbara Safford was absent.

The news didn't sit well with members of the local disc golf community, who packed the meeting and spoke out in hopes of persuading the board to keep the course at Schweitzer Grove. This decision will leave the district without a disc golf course and affect Del Campo High School's ability to offer an elective disc golf class in the fall, as has been done in the past.

“It is very sad that the needs of a few rich neighbors outweigh the needs of the community,” Adam Lane wrote in an email. “I don't think that taking away a valid recreation opportunity from the community, especially when over 100 people showed up in support of that opportunity at a community meeting, fits into (the CRPD's) mission statement.”

The issues neighbors brought up when they approached the board in fall 2010, however, can not be overlooked. The 17.2-acre Schweitzer Grove is designated as a nature area, but has been used for disc golfing “on a trial basis” since 1982, Harrison said.

“But the issue was never revisited, so it just continued,” he said.

That is, until the wildly popular activity's undesirable elements – which may simply be the result of a few bad apples – disrupted the daily lives of Schweitzer Grove neighbors. Because the nature area doesn't have a designated parking lot, people end up leaving their cars on the streets of residential neighborhoods, Harrison said. And alcohol and drug use has been a consistent problem that staff simply can't keep up with.

When trash is dumped, the cans are full of beer and wine bottles, Harrison said, though alcohol isn't allowed at the park. Neighbors have also reported finding such bottles in the streets, have witnessed drunken drivers speeding down the streets and even people urinating in their yards, Harrison said.

But Lane, who studied recreation at Sacramento State University and grew up playing disc golf at Schweitzer, argued that the activity deters crime, that regular golfers help maintain and beautify the area and that those undesirable elements will only worsen without such opportunities being available.

"The public wants this, it's just a few people who don't," he said. "It's just sad when the government takes away a free recreation activity when the community wants it – it's literally one of my favorite places in the world."

Yet this isn't the first time the board has decided to rid a park of such recreational opportunities. A disc golf course at Del Campo Park was closed in 2002, Harrison said, “and records show for many of the same reasons they chose to close (Schweitzer Grove's course) last night.”