REDESIGN GETS LOS ROBLES DRIVING RANGE OFF THE HOOK.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer A judge has halted court action over errant er·rant adj. 1. Roving, especially in search of adventure: knights errant. 2. Straying from the proper course or standards: errant youngsters. 3. golf balls from the Los Robles Robles is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning oaks, and may refer to:
tr. & intr.v. re·o·pened, re·o·pen·ing, re·o·pens 1. To open or be opened again: Officials reopened the airport after the snow was cleared. Schools reopen in September. a reconfigured practice field in December. The city shut down the driving range - used by 40,000 people annually - in March after losing a fight over a court order that banned golfers from slicing balls toward an office building and parking lot. The City Council recently hired contractors to complete the improvements, prompting Ventura Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane to stop further court action against the city. Lane was scheduled to hear a trial so the building owner, Al Dickens, could seek a permanent injunction permanent injunction n. a final order of a court that a person or entity refrain from certain activities permanently or take certain actions (usually to correct a nuisance) until completed. prohibiting the city from operating the driving range. The judge, however, vacated the preliminary injunction A temporary order made by a court at the request of one party that prevents the other party from pursuing a particular course of conduct until the conclusion of a trial on the merits. A preliminary injunction is regarded as extraordinary relief. late last month and stopped further proceedings based on the planned improvements. Environmental Golf Inc. and Valley Crest Landscape Inc. are scheduled to begin the work Oct. 15. The contract amount is $677,000, said Bob Biery, the city's finance director. The south-to-north orientation of the driving range was the source of the problem, because golfers frequently sliced golf balls eastward toward the 18,000-square-foot building. The building, completed earlier this year, sits a few yards beyond the 40-foot-high fence separating the range from the neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. property. Biery said the driving range would be realigned to an east-to-west orientation, with the tee box more than 300 yards from the building. A 100-foot-high fence also will be erected on three sides of the range. ``It would be physically impossible for the balls to hit the building,'' Biery said. The attorney for Dickens did not return calls seeking comment from the Daily News. The city previously eliminated some driving tees and made other changes to reduce the number of golf balls hitting the two-story building and 68-space parking lot. Lane imposed the preliminary injunction after ruling that the city's potential loss of revenue from closing the range and the cost of preventing golf balls from hitting the building did not outweigh out·weigh tr.v. out·weighed, out·weigh·ing, out·weighs 1. To weigh more than. 2. To be more significant than; exceed in value or importance: The benefits outweigh the risks. the building owner's potential loss of revenue if office space could not be leased. Lane also said the risk of injury outweighed any need to keep the driving range open without further improvements. Although the preliminary injunction called only for the city to prevent balls from going over the fence, the only way to guarantee that was to close the range to the general public. Supervised su·per·vise tr.v. su·per·vised, su·per·vis·ing, su·per·vis·es To have the charge and direction of; superintend. [Middle English *supervisen, from Medieval Latin golf lessons were still allowed on the range, said City Attorney Mark Sellers. Dickens posted a $76,000 bond to cover losses and other expenses to the city from closing the range should the plaintiff lose the suit. Lane lifted the bond requirement when she vacated the court order rather than proceed with the trial on the permanent injunction. |
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