Thursday, April 10, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Editor's Note: A slice of heaven on Craig Road

It may come as a surprise to all you devoted golfers out there, but not everybody plays the game. In fact, a fair percentage of the populace, for a variety of reasons, rarely if ever sets foot on a golf course.

This is unfortunate, not because golf is such an enjoyable sport, but because golf courses are some of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Golf courses are not nature; they are almost entirely man-made. But they take some of the best features that nature has to offer and meld them in an orderly and aesthetically pleasing manner--often right in the middle of the city. For the open-minded, a round of golf is not merely an athletic endeavor, it's an escape from the urban racket, a communion with a planet wearing its Sunday best.

And for this reason, it is unfortunate that so many people don't--or can't--play golf. They are missing out on something special. Neighborhood parks can't compare. Only large regional parks can rival the majesty of a fine golf course.

The city of North Las Vegas is pursuing an opportunity to give everybody, regardless of handicap or income bracket, the chance to enjoy the golf course experience. The city has applied to the federal Bureau of Land Management for $38 million so it can buy the 40-year-old Craig Ranch Golf Course and turn it into a regional park.

I took a tour of Craig Ranch, which sits just east of Martin Luther King Boulevard, on Sunday afternoon, and the experience confirmed what I suspected: The 132-acre property would make one hell of a park. The first thing you hear when you step out of your car is not the traffic on Craig Road but squawking birds. The giant pine trees that surround the course are loaded with winged creatures of all shapes and sizes. The 6,000 yards of fairways and greens are populated by bushy-tailed rabbits, roadrunners, doves and redheaded quail. Ducks swim in the ponds. A few owls even live in the pines, hooting at passersby and feasting on unsuspecting rabbits.

Craig Ranch's owners came up with the idea of turning the course into a park. In recent years they have considered an array of proposals to build everything from casinos to malls to hospitals on the property. Fortunately, none of them has come to fruition. The course is profitable, but the property's value is skyrocketing amid the surrounding residential and commercial development. The latest idea is finding a way to make some money while preserving the course's natural attributes.

"You walk around the course and you can visualize picnic benches, a park setting," says Shawn Lampman, a representative for the course ownership group. "It's a good golf course. It would be a phenomenal park."

Lampman believes converting the course to a park would change the complexion of the entire northern valley. "It wouldn't just affect North Las Vegas," he says. "It's like getting Central Park."

The city proposes to dedicate much of the property to a bird sanctuary and municipal park. Undeveloped desert areas surrounding the course would be developed into ballfields and other recreational facilities.

"It would be one of the coolest parks in town," says Misty Haehn, the city's principal planner. "You're not starting from scratch."

The big question is whether North Las Vegas has the wherewithal to maintain a 132-acre park. North Las Vegas lags behind other area cities and Clark County as far as dedicating resources to parks and recreation facilities. The city is growing by leaps and bounds but its civic infrastructure has struggled to keep up.

The county, for example, has its hands full with Sunset Park, which is a little bigger than Craig Ranch. Sunset has an annual budget of at least $4 million and a maintenance staff of 12 to manage the park's affairs.

The BLM, flush with cash from recent land auctions, has the money available to buy Craig Ranch Golf Course. Whether North Las Vegas has the staff and operational funding for such an ambitious project is uncertain. But if the city can convince the feds to make the commitment, it could create one of the most inspiring urban spaces in Southern Nevada.

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER