Commission urges smaller disc golf course

A proposed disc golf course complex for Carson City was cut by more than half and won the blessing of the Parks and Recreation Commission Tuesday.

The commission voted unanimously for a 60-acre site on the east side of the original 129-acre plot it had selected earlier off Flint Drive not far from the landfill and V & T Railway line. Commission members were told the city’s Public Works Department had long term plans to expand the landfill and wanted to pile dirt needed to put atop trash there, encroaching on the north and west sides of the original site.

Disc golf is a game using something like a Frisbee and baskets instead of holes on a course requiring at least an acre per hole. A complex had been planned with two 18-hole and one nine-hole courses.

“I think we’ve done the work and the vetting,” said Sean Lehmann, commission chairman, who made the successful motion despite Parks and Recreation Department staff members having counseled awaiting more talks between them and people at Public Works. The 60-acre site proposal now becomes the recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

David Bruketta of Public Works explained the department’s long term outlook. Supervisor John McKenna, who sits on the commission, weighed in by saying the landfill produces revenue and suggested board members might favor Public Works if a conflict existed.

But almost everyone agreed the 60-acre alternative for an 18-hole course, or perhaps 27 holes with an altered layout, would avoid that conflict.

Barry Morgan of Carson City was among disc golfers testifying, but the only dissenter. He said most disc golf courses are in park settings, not near a landfill. He suggested the city start smaller, with a nine-hole course somewhere else.

But Craigg Swift and Dave Wiley, also Carson City residents and disc golf enthusiasts, said the 60-acre idea would work fine.

“I still think the east course is very viable,” said Swift.

“We can work with what’s there,” said Wiley.

Parks Planner Vern Krahn, despite the recommendation that the commission await more talks with people at Public Works, also agreed the 60-acre site was feasible.