Anyone have any experience with city's charging a Park User Fee? I have been called into a meeting later today with the my city's Parks Dept to discuss this topic.

Any advice and/or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

I went to Fresno for some JOB training. I played at Woodward Legacy DGC and they charged 3 bucks on the weekends during the summer months only. just when they had a lot of traffic.

The City of Austin PARD was interested in charging for use of the courses on city parks some time ago. They wanted to have an honor system where players but their money in box before playing.

I don't think they wanted to spend a lot of time enforcing it so it wasn't adopted.

The Bronte Creek course (Oakville, Ontario) is in a provincial park that charges a $4 per person admisison fee.

Haven't played White Spruce in Brampton, ON, but the park charged admission while I was living in Brampton. (Actually, it was a parking fee: you could walk or bike in for free.)

If it was a small fee, $3 or something, I would be in favor of it. Our courses are so overcrowded. I would pay a couple bucks to have a nice round without waiting on a group of 10 on every hole.

Sorry, just to clarify, this potential fee would only apply to tournaments larger than a weekly mini. This is not a daily or admission fee, simply a charge applied to allow the use of the park for an organized event.

Brian

Park User fees are one thing. Everyone pays it. Picnickers, soccer moms, disc golfers, etc.

Course use fees are another. Who will enforce it? What will be the penalty for throwing without paying? The way it's done at Morley seems to work, where a concession is let and a city ordinance makes playing without paying a trespassing offense. The fees then go to the concessionaire who maintains the course, etc.

Just make sure that disc golf course fees go into a fund that is used for maintenance and improvements on the course, instead of a general park fund that can be tapped by the softball league, the soccer kids, and anyone else.

Well, since you posted that clarification while I was writing my other post.....

Event fees are similar to what a family would pay to rent the pavilion for a reunion, or the field fee that most parks charge the softball league. An event fee is an expense that you must cover from sponsorships or out of entry fees.

Again, I'd ask the parks and rec dept to put such fees into a fund that would benefit the course, either by maintenane or improvements.

I know there is one course in St Louis that charges to play, but it only charges a dollar to play. Its very much a nominal fee, but it keeps it so that the park can have some control over the use of the park and the money can be used to upkeep the park. I am sure over the summer months they take in enough to replace things when they have to. I think also the fact that the fee is so low is why people don't mind paying it. If you charge a fee that is more than a couple of bucks and there is a free park nearby you will probably see a big decline in the usage.

The Waterloo Disc Golf Club pays park fees for running the Waterloo Classic (Waterloo Park) and the Capital of Texas Open (Pease Park).

All good information. Thanks to all of those that replied here and those that sent me PM's. I really appreciate it. This has given me a better understanding of what other parks do.

Now to get ready for my meeting in one hour.

Regards,
Brian

Brian, I'd be very curious to hear how the meeting went. I work for Recreation in Kamloops, British Columbia, and for the life of me can't understand how they'd implement fees on a "drop-in" activity like disc golf or tennis or skateboarding. They would have to staff the course to collect and that doesn't make fiscal sense.
If disc golf in your community is being singled out to the exclusion of the other sports mentioned I think you'd have a discrimination argument on your hands. As for league play and events, it is pretty standard to have user fees, most of which are added to the reg fees etc.
Here in Kamloops we are very lucky. We pay no user fees for organized play, mostly because we maintain the course. For tournaments we are even more spoiled. Our City got official designation as "Tournament Capital of Canada" and provides event hosting grants. They also waive any fees. Very progressive thinking. We hosted the Canadian Disc Golf Championships last year and got a $1,500 hosting grant plus lots of other support like photocopying, porti-pottys brought in free of charge, etc etc. The City even helped us with our bid package to the PDGA. That alone cost $1,000.
I really feel for TD's in other cities that get nickelled and dimed to death with fees to host events that bring in money for everybody else. It's backwards thinking!

In San Diego it's pay to play.

Tradewinds Park in Fort Lauderdale, FL it costs $1 to get into the park whether you are golfing or grilling.

Some of the golf courses in Mississippi are in State Parks, and they charge to use the park as well.

No big deal if it's cheap. I'll GLADLY pay to play The Cedar Hill courses for BIG events.

The fees in question are only for tournament play. They would not apply to casual or, at this point, weekly mini's being run by the Cedar Hill Disc Golf Association.

Everything is still being negotiated. I hope to have it all settled soon.

The city here has been great. So far they have been providing port-a-potties and carts (for installation and routine up keep) every time I have asked. The fees will simply be part of a political tool to help control the few people that opposed this plan from the beginning. This is the parks departments way of showing how disc golf is bringing in money other than the usual means.

Brian

You might try a different approach and start tracking how many players are buying food and gas in Cedar Hill that wouldn't be there without the course.

You might try a different approach and start tracking how many players are buying food and gas in Cedar Hill that wouldn't be there without the course.



We have discussed that. Dont get me wrong, they appreciate this additional economic impact that is being brought to the area. What they are still looking for is an additional "cash" benefit to the city itself.

Brian

We can take up a collection and make a donation to John Wiley Prices' re-election campaign. :D

What kind of number are they talking about? A couple hundred dollars for a big tournament is not too much. It is just a couple dollars per player. I would think you would want to ask several of the TD's, however.

Heck, if they are providing port-o-potties too, then it juts got a lot more reasonable, too!

We avoid these types of charges by working constanly with the parks and rec and doing 99% of all the work and maintanance on the course. The raleigh Parks and rec actually provides ammenities to us free (RADL) that they would normally charge others, because of our outstanding relationship (pavillion fee's, field rental for MTA, distance and accuracey and supplies like mulch dirt, etc..).

We make sure we notify them of the work we do and point out that not too many baseball, tennis and basketball players every do anything to assist the parks and rec other than use the facilities.


Good luck!

Thanks for all of the input.

We finally negotiated a agreement.

$1.00 per player due a week after the tournament and proof of insurance for major events.

These fees do not affect weeklies. They will continue to supply two golf carts and port-a-potties, if possible, when I request them.

Not bad since it started around $250 up front with no refunds.

Brian

Good to see we got an agreement that everyone can be happy with.

Sounds like a great deal. :)