Final designs are being prepared for an ambitious golf-course renovation plan for the suburban Chicago property that would include replacing the course’s irrigation and drainage systems, buidling a new maintenance structure and full driving range, and redesigning selected holes. Completion would require closing the course for a year or more.
Architects are working for the Mount Prospect (Ill.) Park District to draw up final designs for an ambitious plan to renovate the Mount Prospect Golf Course, the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald reported.
When the final documents are completed, the Park District for the suburban Chicago municipality can start the bidding process for the process, which has an estimated cost of about $6 million, the Daily Herald reported.
Park Board President Timothy Doherty said the renovation as envisioned would include multiple components, among them replacement of the course’s irrigation and drainage systems, construction of a new maintenance structure (along with demolition of the existing one), a new full driving range and the redesign of select holes on the course, the Daily Herald reported.
Completion would require the course to be closed a year or more, officials said.
“This has been under discussion for quite a while,” Doherty told the Daily Herald. “It’s a major project. I’m not sure if the golf course has ever undergone this kind of renovation.”
The district could decide to reduce the scope of the project once bids start coming in, Doherty noted. He added, though, that the district hopes to move forward with a plan that will keep the course in good shape for 30 to 50 years.
The Park Board voted on September 18 to allow the district’s architects to prepare design and construction documents, with Commissioner Susan Walsh casting the lone dissenting vote, the Daily Herald reported.
Walsh said she supports the idea of fixing the golf course’s drainage and irrigation systems, but believes the district should address needs elsewhere, too, the Daily Herald reported, citing the local Big Surf pool and existing neighborhood parks as facilities that need repairs or upgrades.
“Spending $6.1 million on the golf course alone is too expensive for this economy,” she said.
Park District officials estimated that renovation work would start in the spring of next year, pending Park Board approval, the Daily Herald reported. A draft design plan can be found on the Park District’s website, at mppd.org/facility/golf
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