CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Voters here will decide in a referendum next month whether to finance and build a new clubhouse for the town-owned, Sugarloaf-leased golf course that’s been ranked No. 1 in the state for the past 17 years.

First, though, they’ll have the chance to learn more about the proposal and its importance for the competitiveness of the course in the golf marketplace and for regional economic development at a public hearing Monday, Nov 17.

Although it’s not commonly known, Carrabassett Valley owns the Sugarloaf Golf Club. Sugarloaf Mountain Corp. leases the course from the town, a lease that isn’t up for 23 more years, said Town Manager David Cota.

The ballot article will ask voters to appropriate up to $800,000 to fund construction of a new clubhouse and to finance the project by borrowing money through a 20-year note. If the article is approved – that’s selectmen’s recommendation – the debt service on the note will be split 62.5 percent by the town and 37.5 percent by Sugarloaf Mountain Corp. through an amended golf course lease. With an estimated maximum interest rate of 4.47 percent and a 20-year maturity, the bond issue would cost $328,408 in interest for a total debt of $1,128,408.

The town would own the clubhouse, proposed to be a 5,500-square-foot facility including a pro shop, bathrooms/day locker area, kitchen, dining room/lounge, screened-in porch and an outdoor patio, Cota said. The dining room/lounge is designed to hold about 60 people inside and 100 people including the patio and porch areas.

The project would include a putting green, kitchen equipment and furnishings that would be the responsibility of S.M.C.

At Monday’s public hearing, representatives from the town and from the golf club who are spearheading the project will discuss the rationale behind it.

According to Cota, the partnership between Carrabassett Valley and S.M.C. has been a long-standing success story. S.M.C. has paid 66 percent of the town’s original investment in the construction of the golf course and is paying 100 percent of the debt incurred for the recent $800,000 capital improvement project.

The existing clubhouse, which becomes a lift station in the winter, does not adequately compliment the golf course, selectmen and plans supporters say.

The referendum vote will be Dec. 11. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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