Time to work for golf course improvements

Now it’s time to put some meat on the bones.

A golf crowd met Dec. 12, to come up with what they would like to see happen at Banks Lake Golf Course so a grant could be pursued.

Frank Andrews Jr., a planner and grant writer for the Colville Tribes, had met with Port District commissioners earlier and volunteered his services to write a grant. Andrews explained his interest: “I’m a golfer,” he told the commissioners.

At the public meeting, attended by some 40 people, officials developed a priority list of improvements they thought should be made on the 18-hole golf course.

Thursday, Andrews said that it is now time to develop information that will support the items on the priority list.

He called for another public meeting, Thursday, Jan. 16, at 6 p.m., at the golf course to develop volunteers to help assemble the material needed to write the grant.

The grant application is due in May, 2014.

Also attending the December meeting was Brian Clark, an architectural engineering professional who works for the Bureau of Reclamation.

Clark spoke of putting in time to help develop engineer drawings for the respective parts of the priority list.

The priorities as developed by the public group are:

1) water features, such as irrigation lines, sprinkler heads and pumps;

2) equipment;

3) clubhouse improvements;

4) improvements to the fairways;

5) greens improvement; and

6) development of a proposed RV park near the clubhouse.

Andrews said a study would need to be done on what sections of the irrigation system needed to be replaced and what the cost would be, as well as support information for the other prioritized items.

That would be the purpose of the Jan. 16 meeting — to develop study groups for the various items.

The grant application would go to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The maximum grant would be for $500,000 and would require half the grant amount in either contributions or in-kind help, such as volunteer labor or use of equipment.

The Banks Lake Golf Course has been managed by the Port District the past two years.