The city of Nampa, Idaho wants to continue leasing the nearly 500 acres of land that include the two courses, which have operated successfully, and possibly arrange to obtain the property from the state in the future. Nampa Mayor Debbie Kling is committed to keeping both courses operational, because of the “vested interest” that citizens have in them and their value in serving as a “buffer” between residential and commercial sections.
The lease agreement between the city of Nampa, Idaho and the state of Idaho for the nearly 500 acres of land of the Centennial and Ridgecrest golf courses expires at the end of the 2019 calendar year, according to Nampa Mayor Debbie Kling, the Idaho Press of Nampa reported. But the city hopes to continue leasing the property and potentially own it in the future, the Press reported.
Kling said Idaho Department of Health and Welfare officials are in the middle of appraising the property now, the Press reported. The department expects the appraisal to be completed by August, Director of Communications Kelly Petroff told the Press. At this point, Petroff said, the department will evaluate the best options for the land and may move forward with negotiations with city of Nampa officials.
Ideally, Kling said, she would like to enter a lease-purchase agreement with the state where the city would eventually own both properties, the Press reported. Nampa should have gone into a lease-purchase agreement many years ago, she said, so the city would already own the land.
Kling wants to keep both golf courses operational and said she believes that’s the will of Nampa residents, too, some who volunteered to help build the courses several decades ago, the Press reported. “Our citizens have a very vested interest in the golf courses,” she said.
Nampa has leased the land from the state since 1984, the Press reported. In 2018, Petroff said, the city of Nampa paid $50,653 in lease payments for both golf courses.
In a previous interview with the Press, then-mayor Bob Henry said a future lease agreement for the golf courses would likely be higher than what the city pays now.
The Centennial and Ridgecrest courses take up about 476 acres of the approximately 600-acre parcel of land, which also includes the Southwest Idaho Treatment Center and the Centennial Job Corps Center, which recently transferred control over to the Idaho Department of Labor from the U.S Forest Service.
In 2016, the future of the courses was uncertain, despite their operating success (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/two-muni-courses-idaho-may-closed-not-lack-profit/). At that time, state officials were considering a proposed development that would have replaced them with one course and built a mixture of housing, commercial, civic, transit and open space real estate on the site. But the plan did not move forward due to a lack of support for the concept, according to Petroff.
Golf courses remain the best use for the land, Kling told the Press, because the courses act as a buffer between the residential lots on one side and commercial developments on the other.
Through discussions with state Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen, the Press reported, Kling said she believes the department respects the city’s desire to maintain control of the courses.
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