The city of Newton, Kan.’s Sand Creek Station Golf Course, which just opened in July, has already won two environmental and engineering awards for its accomplishments as well as national golf recognition.
On Nov. 9 the American Council of Engineering Companies presented Newton city manager James Heinicke the latest of these awards, one of the organization’s four City Public Improvement Awards for 2006 in Kansas. Heinicke accepted the honor for the efforts of City Engineer and Director of Public Works Suzanne Loomis, PE, and golf course architect Jeffrey D. Brauer.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime project,” said Loomis, who was the project coordinator and oversaw all the construction. “It was quite an experience melding the engineering components, take a more broad-brush approach to things. It ended up being a lovely project and something we can brag on in Newton.
“That’s because Jeff has the ability to design a golf course that is very appealing aesthetically and, from the players’ angle, is a challenge to play. Jeff was a huge part of this award. Without the golf course there would be no award. He’s the one who worked the magic.”
From his Arlington, Texas, offices Brauer called Sand Creek Station “a prototype for how you can develop affordable golf.” He was referring to the innovative public-private venture in which Wichita land developers J. Russell Co. and Ritchie Associates, who owned 170 acres in Newton, bought another 280 acres from the city and deeded back 180 acres on which to build the golf course. This left the developers with 270 acres for their Sand Creek neighborhood.
The developers made a $600,000 “development contribution” to Newton, plus another $2,400 per housing lot as well as the usual water, sewer, streets and drainage assessments. Those assessments, along with the new property taxes generated by Sand Creek, will pay for the debt service for the golf club, while operating revenues should exceed operating costs, with the excess also paying down debt service, Johnson said.
“The benefit of the project is how we used golf to spur a nice development and increase the tax base," Brauer said. “People have been talking for years about how we need more affordable golf. In Newton we’ve helped them achieve that and improve their community at the same time.
“Environmentally, we’re getting rid of effluent, detaining the storm drainage, and using the golf course to provide what will probably wind up being the nicest community in town.”
Sand Creek Station was named this month as one of five finalists for Daily Fee Development of the Year by Golf, Inc.
The project’s gray-water improvement system also recently won Project of the Year in the Environmental category from the Kansas chapter of the American Public Works Association.
Presenting the latest award, the American Council of Engineering Companies recognized Sand Creek Station not for its engineering excellence but for its benefit to the citizens of its community.
“If we did it again, there is virtually nothing fundamental we would change,” said city planner Tim Johnson said,
City officials estimate that construction of 100 single-family homes will generate $11.6 million in new income to local business and workers in the first year of construction, and $2.8 million every year thereafter; create 250 jobs in the community during the first year of construction and 65 jobs every year thereafter; and will bring $1.4 million in additional local taxes and fees in that first year and $498,000 thereafter.
“And Sand Creek is proposing construction of 550 new homes," Johnson said. "So it’s a huge boon for us.”
Johnson described the golf course as an attraction that “has really improved or increased Newton’s profile in the Metro area. In July and August, non-residents accounted for 29.9 percent of our play on weekdays and 17.5 percent on weekends.”
From an engineering standpoint, Loomis said, “We put a quality project together at Sand Creek Station. It will function properly for years to come.”
Sand Creek was connected to the city effluent treatment plant a half-mile away, which amounts to free water to irrigate the golf course. Loomis said 2.5 million gallons per day are processed and the golf course itself uses 1 million gallons a day. Its irrigation pond holds a total of 3 million gallons.
More than 8,900 linear feet of 36-inch stormwater sewer was installed under the golf course to drain the course and surrounding development.
Loomis added that Brauer’s design called for a 150-foot bridge spanning to Sand Creek flood plain and an underpass under the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks that bisect the course and development.
Brauer is not new to awards, although they are normally for accomplishments in golf. He completed the rare accomplishment of winning back-to-back Best New Upscale Public Course of the Year awards from Golf Digest. The Quarry at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, Minn., and The Wilderness at Fortune Bay in Tower, Minn, were rated the best in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
