The end of 2010 likely means the end of a 20-year-old sporting venue in Austin.

As part of a restoration project in Pease Park, the disc golf course is scheduled to be eliminated December 31. Now, plans to close the park have city officials, disc golfers and the community at odds.

The course at Pease Park was originally set to close once a new facility could be opened in Roy Guerrero Colorado River Metropolitan Park in East Austin, but city officials said deteriorating trees and soil at Pease Park, due to the sport, are forcing the closure before the planned course at Roy Guerrero Park is completed.

"We will be closing the disc golf course at Pease Park here at the end of December," Austin Parks Development Coordinator Marty Stump said. "We, as a department, have decided that it's time the facility close and that a new facility be developed that's more sustainable."

Stump said the course at Roy Guerrero Park is still in the planning phase with no final design in development completed.

But once a plan is developed, the city will still need to go through a permitting process and cost evaluation. With that, city officials hope the new course will be under construction sometime next year.

At a meeting Tuesday night, disc golfers voiced their concerns about the problems that would arise without the additional disc golf course.

According to them, more players will inundate the four remaining disc golf facilities in Austin parks. That in turn, would affect the grass and trees at those parks at a faster than normal rate and limit access to what they call “a game that's easily accessible to anyone.”

"We are not happy by what we saw at the very least. At the very best, it's the city breaking its word," Waterloo Disc Club President Gordon Maxim-Kelley said.

Other speakers at the meeting said the loss of Pease Park chips away at the disc golf culture that's become increasingly popular in the city.

"We see, on a daily basis, in our South Austin store, people coming directly from the airport who come here just to play disc golf," Disc Nation Owner Damon Neth said. "The National Deaf Disc Golf World Championships will be here next year."

Residents close to the planned course at Roy Guerrero Park also voiced their concern over the environmental impact on heritage trees in their neighborhood.

"We don't know what effect it will have on our trees, so please help us," Montopolis Neighborhood Contact Team member Pam Thompson said. "We're not against disc golf. We just are not thinking that this site is the place for it.”

Disc golfers plan to join with members of the Montopolis Neighborhood Contact Team to conduct a tree survey. It’s something they said they're disappointed the city has not done yet.

Area residents also oppose the park saying the nearly 300 acres would be better served with affordable housing.

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