Committee recommends bronze bench donation program for golf course; sends package to council

The San Clemente City Golf Course Committee voted unanimously to recommend a donor-funded amenity program that would place benches, trash cans and a limited number of drinking stations around the municipal golf course.

Committee members recommended option B — a bench with a back in a bronze finish — to match the city’s existing care program, and asked staff to include a matching trash can and a donor plaque no larger than four inches. The committee approved the recommendation and directed staff to prepare a package for San Clemente City Council consideration.

Samantha, a city parks staff member, said the program is modeled on the city’s existing care program in parks and trails and is intended to offset initial purchase and long-term maintenance costs. “For reference for the care program, we currently charge $5,000 a bench for the care program, and people have completely accepted that,” Samantha said during the discussion. She described the $5,000 donation as covering the bench plus roughly 10 years of…