Board accepts golf plan
At Thursday’s meeting of the POA Board of Directors, most of the recommendations of the special Golf Task Force were accepted, but the new, more permanent “golf review team” will be tweaked by the board.
The Joint Advisory Committee on Golf heard about a new plan, called “A Fresh New Look” at its June meeting. POA General Manager Tom Judson presented the plan and asked the committee to form a task force that would hold open meetings and develop recommendations for the board.
The Task Force was formed and the open meeting was held July 10 with about 85 members in attendance. The four-member task force, along with the Golf JAC, agreed with most of the points in the fresh new look.
Berksdale South, the portion of Berksdale that was not reopened after flooding in spring 2017, should not be reopened, but the other nine holes of Berkdale should remain open as long as possible. Kingswood should also remain open.
Berksdale and Kingswood are the first two golf courses along Little Sugar Creek and both had been damaged by flooding several times in the last few years. The POA and the city funded a study of the flooding issues, which was completed last winter, but there was no good news. According to the study, the area will continue to flood. Some sections of the stream bank could be reinforced with rock to minimize damage to the bank, but there’s no way to stop the flooding.
The task force and the board agreed to leave the 27 holes open as long as possible, but the stream banks will not be reinforced.
The third golf course along Little Sugar Creek, the Country Club, has also been damaged in recent floods, but the “Fresh New Look” plan didn’t include the Country Club and the board is currently interviewing architectural firms for a project to make that course more flood resistant. Later in the meeting, the board approved a “Request for Proposal” to be sent to three firms.
The new plan did address a potential new course on land the POA owns on the Arkansas-Missouri border. The recommendation was that the board not consider a new course on the Ark/Mo land. The task force agreed.
While the board accepted those task force recommendations, the
new “Golf Review Team” was a topic at the meeting. The Task Force suggested that Team should be made up of three members of the Golf JAC and three members of the Recreation JAC. The team would recommend if and when a course or a portion of a course would be repurposed for recreation.
Task Force member Rex Butler explained that keeping the number of members from golf and from recreation equal would give both points of view an equal say.
But when the board discussed the recommendation in a closed meeting earlier this month, they agreed to “change the scope of the Golf Review Team,” according to a document
used at the board meeting. The board’s version of the team would include two members from each JAC; Golf, Recreation, Lakes and Community Involvement. There would also be two board members serving as liaisons to the team.
The board’s version of the team would meet quarterly and be “pro-active,” rather than “reactive.”
During the meeting, the board decided to let their own Rules and Regulations Committee consider the new group. The Rules and Regulations Committee is expected to call a special meeting to act on the board’s recommendation as soon as possible.
A representative of the Charitable Giving Committee was on hand to present the committee’s recommendations. The board had given the committee a budget of $24,000 and some guidelines. Local
nonprofits submitted grant proposals which were evaluated by the committee. The committee recommended donations to the Bella Vista Animal Shelter ($5,500), The Bella Vista Library Foundation ($$5,500), The Bella Vista Museum ($3,000), Courtesy Van ($3,500), Boys & Girls Club Bella Vista Unit ($5,500) and the Bella Vista Foundation ($1,000).
In other business, the board approved a new trail maintenance agreement for more trails in central Bella Vista. Like the Back Forty system on the east side, the build is funded by the Walton Family Foundation with the city and the POA splitting ongoing maintenance costs. The agreement was for an annual expense of $35,000 for the central portion. The POA has already committed to spending $35,000 on the existing trails.