Could Lead To Closure Of The Course By 2017

Salt Lake City, UT maintains a municipal golf course at Salt Lake City International Airport (KSLC) for which it has paid $1 to the Salt Lake City Airport Authority in rent for the current fiscal year.

Next year, that rent is going up to $55,000 ... and will increase each year by $5,000 until 2017 payable to the airport Authority.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that, according to the FAA, the authority, which is independent of the Salt Lake City government, is required by law to charge a "fair market value" for land it leases, including the golf course. The adjustment comes following an audit of KSLC in 2012.

The city was to have had a lease on the Wingpointe Golf Course until 2087. The two parties negotiated the deal that would reduce the "fair market value" of $155,000 to $55,000, and reduce the term of the lease to five years. The city has also agreed to a rezoning of the property to "open space" which will allow "aeronautical uses" of the land, according to Salt Lake City Department of Public Services director Rick Graham.

The city can enter into a new five-year lease in 2017 if the airport authority determines it does not need the land for "aeronautical uses" ... at fair market value.

For now, Graham said that there will be no changes in the operation of the course, and a round of 18 holes of golf will still cost $33.

If the course is closed by the Airport Authority in 2017, it must repay the Salt Lake City Golf Enterprise Fund the $2.2 million it cost the fund to build the course more than 20 years ago.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.slcairport.com