Plans for Club Rio Rancho outlined

Development of 70 acres would leave options for future of golf course

RIO RANCHO — It was wallto-wall people at Rio Rancho City Hall as the Planning and Zoning Commission last month prepared to hear a presentation from a developer interested in restructuring the deteriorating Club Rio Rancho and golf course area.

Many residents had to listen to the meeting from a spillover room down the hall from the council chambers as land developer Josh Skarsgard of Land Development 2, LLC presented his permanent plan for the 270-acre area.

Skarsgard told the audience “that we understand the obligation of this property and how important it is to you, and we take that very seriously.”

The reason the golf course switched hands so many times over the years were because the owners had no long-term success plan, he said. His plan breaks down into two possible scenarios.

Plan A is to donate a 200-acre, 18-hole golf course along with the country club to a golf club operator named Jim Bellows from Arizona. Skarsgard’s plan is then to utilize 70 acres of the course for new homes.

Plan B is to still develop housing on the same 70 acres with the remaining acreage available to the city, Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Authority, Sandoval County, and/or the state as a charitable donation establishing a conservation easement of open space.

Only one-story homes would be built on the 70 acres.

Skarsgard stressed that in order to offer the golf course to Bellows for free, a rezoning for singlefamily residential of the 70 acres is crucial. The 200-260 homes on that land could generate enough funds to erase the debt on the property and provide a clean slate for Bellows to start work.

He also asked for the commission to lower the flow-through charge for gray water to the course from $1.39 to 65 cents per 1,000 gallons.

Bellows, who stepped forward from the spillover room, said even with the donated course, the cost for updating existing grounds would run close to $9 million, which in turn would make the membership exclusive to semi-exclusive to recoup costs.

More than 20 people signed up for public comment after the presentation, expressing both positive and negative viewpoints about Skarsgard’s vision.

The commission postponed a vote until Jan. 9 so the city could look over possible legal issues and give Skarsgard time to make changes.