Plan moves ahead for golf course

Greg Harman

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2000 | 10:44 a.m.

The Boulder City Council is pressing on in its drive to surround the community with well-shorn golf links, a use considered compatible with the town's "clean, green" image and its drive to attract tourist dollars.

The council approved a contract Tuesday night with Rathert International Golf Design for what will become the town's second municipal course: a 27-hole, 100-acre layout with clubhouse, practice facility, driving range and -- possibly -- homes.

The city has agreed to pay the company $345,000 for a course master plan, design and construction observation.

Councilman Bill Smith objected to requiring the design team to include residential lots in its master plan for the 350-acre parcel, saying the council was "putting the cart before the horse."

"We aren't sure the community is going to agree to sell land for housing," Smith said. Under city growth ordinances, a majority popular vote is required for the city to sell more than 1 acre.

But both Councilman Bryan Nix, chairman of the council-appointed golf course steering committee, and City Manager John Sullard said it is better to have the information included in case the city decided to build residential lots on the course.

"We don't want to build this golf course and find out, 'Gee, the voters want housing and we have no place to put it,' " Nix said.

Sullard said his office has already received five phone calls asking when the homes, which are still purely theoretical, will be available.

But with or without homes, the course will be economically feasible, according to a marketability study performed several years ago, Sullard said.

Boulder City currently has one city course, though two private courses are in the works. MGM Grand's exclusive course near the junction of U.S. 95 and U.S. 93 is scheduled to open in late October, about the same time Red Ridge LLC's venture is scheduled to break ground across town.

To sustain all of that turf, the city still needs to determine when and how it will construct a new water pipeline from Lake Mead. The source of funding for the design contract has still not been determined.

Sullard said it will either be drawn from the town's utility fund or by floating a bond issue.