A $100,000 request from the Dawson Creek Golf and Country Club was turned down by city council. The funding for the proposed redesign was denied in a vote on Monday.
"When the amount we give in grants is about $50,000 for the one community, the entire club was asking double," said Mayor Mike Bernier. "What the golf course does is great for the community, no doubt, but just the scope of that goes way beyond what council can grant."
The country club was asking for the support for the first phase of the Golf Course redesign, which the organization said was budgeted at over $116,000.
The Master Plan outlines a proposal to update the golf and country club in three phases, which are expected to cost $1 million overall.
However, the City's 2013 budget for grants was only $50,000, which was the same amount as was given in 2011 and 2010.
The City also noted that while they would be providing help to a non-profit organization, the Country Club directly competes with the Farmington Fairways golf course, which is a business. The City also noted that the club's annual budget is much larger than most organizations the council considers for grant requests.
However, the City did grant a $15,000 request towards the Bear Mountain Nordic Ski Association (BMNSA).
The grant is part of over $140,000 BMNSA needs in order to complete maintenance work on their trails over the next three years.
Pat O'Reilly, the organization’s vice-president, said that the money would go towards a continuing project to remove potentially dangerous trees from their trails.
He said that the association has had pine beetles kill approximately 20,000 trees that are near their trails. These dead, rotting trees could potentially fall on people riding them if not treated, or else fall and hit a tree that is closer to the trail, creating a domino effect, he said.
In the past, volunteers were responsible for removing these trees, but O'Reilly said that new work safety legislation prevents them from doing so. Instead, BMNSA needs to hire licensed workers.
The group will also clear stumps left behind from an earlier trail expansion project. As well, the group will repair culverts and bridge abutments that O’Reilly said was damaged by earlier flooding.
The City decided to give the grant based on the economic need of the group and because they had given this type of money to the group in the past.
O’Reilly said that the Peace River Regional District had also given them money.
The City now has approximately $50,000 remaining in the grants budget for 2013.
