Trustees talk options on golf course

CARRIZOZO - Trustees got the ball rolling on an ambitious project to renovate and reuse the Valle del Sol Golf Course, though improvements will have to wait for funding.

Trustee Yvonne Lucero, a member of the golf course committee, presented the group's vision for a multi-use park featuring a panoply of recreational options ranging from fishing to walking paths to disc golf, she said.

"We envision the golf course as a way to build community," she said.

The best part is that the golf course itself would remain unaltered, fit to be restored "whenever the town wants to pick it back up," she said.

"We still have a putting green and we want to make it look nice," she said. "In five or 10 years if (the town) wants the golf course, you just have to reseed it and it's there."

The committee also recommended keeping holes one and four to allow local golfers the chance to play a quick game at home, rather than having to head to Ruidoso or Alto any time they want to play, she said.

"They'll just go out and come around, play a round and it won't take too much to keep it watered," she said. "That keeps a little bit of golf going."

Improvements

The first area Lucero spoke on to the council involved the course's pond, a small body of water set back from the main clubhouse that presents an opportunity to draw fishermen in the wake of Bonito Lake's damage from the Little Bear Fire.

Lucero said she and Joey Thornton, maintenance foreman for Carrizozo, had

begun speaking to New Mexico Department of Fish and Game representatives about increasing the pond's fish stocking schedule, as no fish would survive in Bonito Lake for several years.

"We advertise our lake so more people will come enjoy what we have, especially as we don't have Bonito (Lake) anymore," she said. "Until I moved here, I didn't even know we had a lake, so I'm sure a lot of people also don't know."

Lucero also suggested improvements to the course's soccer field, which would need to be smoothed out for play. She also suggested adding bleachers or benches to provide a viewing area for visitors.

The tennis and basketball courts also could use some work, she added.

The courts had been resurfaced and were "OK to play," but improvements, and a second goal on the basketball court, would not go amiss, she said.

The 2.5 miles of cart path along the golf course could easily be transformed into a walking or jogging path with the addition of benches and signs, she said.

Coming to the more modern and less-known portion of the committee's plan, Lucero suggested that Carrizozo take the opportunity to install the state's largest disc golf course on the 70 unused acres of golf course.

"Disc golf is really growing, it's in every county, almost, of the world," she said. "There's a bunch of them here in New Mexico. We could easily have the largest disc golf course in the state.

Lucero added that the largest course in the state had 27 holes, and suggested Carrizozo look to put in 36. She estimated the cost of installing the baskets at about $8,000 for the cheaper baskets and $16,000 for higher quality disc catchers. Tee boxes would be edged-in dirt pads, rather than cement, so as not to permanently alter the golf course, she said.

"Anyone can play, there's no expensive equipment needed to play, and you can play in all weather types," she said. "They play in snow, they play in rain, they play in the wind - the more obstacles the better."

But the driving force behind these initiatives would be sporting tournaments to draw people into town, she said.

"By next summer, we'd like to be able to hire a part-time person to schedule events on the facilities over there," she said. "We believe the tournaments, once started, will produce enough money to pay this salary."

Fishing, basketball, horseshoe tournaments and "even tennis matches" could be scheduled throughout the year. Lucero suggested the town look into working with Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso to bring a college student in a work-study position, which would cost Carrizozo Works Inc. about $200 per month, as 75 percent of their wages are paid by the work-study program, she said.

Carrizozo Works Inc. is a non-profit group that promotes the town for tourism and new residents.

Lucero said benches, $300 to $600 each, would be a good place to start on the walking path, at least until more funding comes in for the remaining projects.

"We'll try to start small with the money we have first," she said.

She added that the group had submitted a grant application to the Hubbard Foundation to help fund the project and was looking at recruiting sponsors for benches and disc golf holes, and permanent advertising for the cost of construction.

Trustee Jamie Gieb said the town should not wait until a grant came in, at least not for everything.

"We've got to start somewhere," she said. "If we wait months to get grants and don't do anything, it'll go to rot."

Trustees moved to continue looking into funding options for the course, though nothing was decided for certain at the meeting.

Town Clerk Leann Weibrecht added that she and Lucero were working on organizing a community contest to decide the new name for the course.

Other business

Trustees also moved to approve the closing of 12th Street on Oct. 28 for a cinematic event. Marc Cohen, a new resident and art gallery owner requested the street be closed for the early part of the day to film a flash mob event that also would serve as an ad for the town.

Cohen said the event, "'Zozo Rocks," would start out with an empty street that would gradually fill with pedestrians, dancers, motorcycles and noise before emptying back to a quiet, small-town scene.

He added that a feast would be held after the event, to which all are invited.

Police Chief Stephen Barnett announced that his department was expecting an increase in its grants following several productive months of work with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area grant.

Barnett said an increase of $1,500 to $1,800 was expected, but he was unsure of the specific amount. The department had reported an average of 5.2 tickets per hour, a significant increase from the statewide average of 3.8 to 4.1 tph, he said.

Officers picked up an average of about 18 extra hours of patrol time per month with the HIDTA grant. Operation DWI hours were more fickle, concentrated around statewide "blitzes," though some funds were reserved for continued patrols during non-blitz periods, he added.

He said he was proud to say that the department's Click It or Ticket program also has seen success with 100 percent of the town buckled up during the last few months. Barnett added that nine out of 10 already were buckled up when pulled over at the start of the campaign.

Carrizozo will spend $2,000 per year to ensure the town always will have access to its information.

The service is provided by Tyler Technologies of Lubbock, Texas, and would allow the town to back up its data every night, preserving it in event of a disaster or computer complication, Weibrecht said.

"If our system goes down, all we need to do is get a computer, hook it up and download," she said. "We'll get all the software, we'll get everything, we won't lose anything."

Source: http://www.ruidosonews.com/ci_21365922/trustees-talk-options-golf-course?source=rss_viewed

marco rubio marco rubio wwdc dave matthews ambien heart attack grill madden 13 cover