Firm wants to build golf course near airport

Monday, March 15, 1999 | 10:07 a.m.

The Washoe County Airport Authority is negotiating a 20-year lease with Family Golf Centers Inc. of Melville, N.Y., to develop the course in the old Home Gardens neighborhood.

The authority bought the 110-acre parcel of land in the early 1980s for safety reasons, but the Federal Aviation Administration now wants the authority to put it to economic use.

The company is proposing to spend $4.9 million to build the course. In return, the authority would provide the land and water rights.

Family Golf owns 116 courses across the country, including one at the end of the runway at Denver Centennial Airport.

"If you fly around and look at airports, you find many, many of them have golf courses at the end of their runways," said William Schickler III, Family Golf's senior vice president. "It's a good use of the land."

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