THE DALLES — The grass will soon be greener at The Dalles Country Club golf course over the summer if a project to extend a water line from a nearby county-owned well to the edge of the Club’s property line comes to fruition over the next few months.
The Wasco County Board of Commissioners gave the nod to undertake the project, estimated to cost between $373 and $415 thousand, during their Dec. 15 board meeting.
The Country Club Water Main project would extend a water line from the county-owned Kuck well, which serves the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, east along Highway 30 to a point near the Club’s water system.
In addition to the golf course, other properties in the area would have the opportunity to connect to the water system, including a mobile home park, apartments and an organic grower.
A fire hydrant near the Golf Course Apartments will extend water availability for fire suppression west of The Dalles toward Rowena and Mosier.
Growing need
“Historically, The Dalles Country Club course had sufficient water from its wells,” club president Steve Lawrence told the board. Several years ago, he said, the loss of water table prompted the golf course to invest $30,000 to strengthen their main well. “We only received 50% of the expected gain,” Lawrence said. “Presently the amount of water in our wells is not sufficient in the summer months to refill the pond quick enough to provide adequate irrigation.”
Testifying in support of the project, The Dalles High School athletic director Billy Brost told the board golf was one of the few activities available to youth during the first year of the pandemic, but “it became vastly apparent the club may cease to exist without (county) support for the water supply.”
Brost noted that without the club, The Dalles High School, which trains a girls and boys golf club at the course, or Dufur, which also trains a team there, could not continue. “Other options are too distant and too expensive,” he said.
Losing the country club would also have negative impacts on the economy, Lisa Farquaharson, president of The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce, told the board.
“There are a lot of avid travelers looking for courses to play on,” she said. “They tend to spend the day and the night, when they find a course they like.”
Each visitor staying in town spends about $150 a day, she noted. “A lot of our businesses need those outside dollars coming in. It’s a win-win to have a better golf course,” she said.
Lawrence noted that since the pandemic began in 2020, the club has opened to increased public play, a move that has seen some success, he said. “Due to the success of open play, and utilizing those opportunities to recruit more frequent public players, open play will be a major component going forward,” he said.
In addition, the club is currently concluding an agreement to lease the club restaurant and kitchen for full service public dining, Lawrence told the board. “This will change the entire atmosphere within the 100-year-old building,” he noted.
Travis Kane of TK Golf Academy, a golf pro at the Country Club, said in the past year or so his programs have served a growing number of residents and visitors to the club. Kane said he had worked with 177 individuals of all ages, including 51 families, who totaled 934 visits.
“There’s a lot of room to grow these programs,” Kane noted.
Public good
That growth will require more water in the summer, and all three commissioners agreed providing water for the Country Club — which was envisioned when the well was transferred to county ownership during the construction of the Discovery Center — was for the public good.
“This is a greater good for the entire county, I feel we should move forward with this,” Commissioner Steve Kramer said early in the discussion.
Commissioner Scott Hege said he supported moving forward, but emphasized the need to design the system to all for additional hook ups. “In the design, there are things we can do to make it a lot easier for other users to connect down the road,” Hege said.
Commissioner Kathy Schwartz noted a fire hydrant west of The Dalles would be a game changer. “That’s a very vulnerable area,” she said. “Having more fire suppression support would be huge.”
She noted the health department believed the project would increase water quality significantly for some of the residents of the area, some of which share wells and where boil advisories are at times issued.
“This project serves kids, schools, there are economic benefits, a potential for improved water quality for the folks that live in that area,” she said.
“I’m in favor of moving forward, but we need to look at who partners with us to pay for this,” she added.
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