CRESCENT BAR — Grant PUD commissioners are expected to decide at their Feb. 17 workshop whether to preserve the golf course on Crescent Bar Island or pursue redevelopment of the 46-acre site to accommodate expanded camping, disc golf, mini golf, or additional natural areas designed to attract a broader range of visitors.
According to Grant PUD Lands and Recreation staff, preserving the existing golf course represents the lowest-cost option. If commissioners move forward with replacing the aging irrigation system, the estimated minimum capital cost would be $3.1 million. However, a consultant’s analysis shows the course currently operates at an approximate $290,000 annual loss, with revenues and expenses not expected to break even.
By comparison, redeveloping the course to support new amenities would cost an estimated $12.5 million to $28.4 million, based on a consultant’s study. Still, lower-cost redevelopment alternatives may be available.
Ross Hendrick, director of Environmental Affairs, and Lorie Butterly, manager of Recreation and Shoreline, told commissioners that the island’s irrigation system would likely require repair or replacement regardless of which option is chosen. Replacement is estimated at $3.1 million. Commissioners have requested additional details about the system’s components to develop a more precise cost estimate.
Preserving the golf course is reportedly the preferred option among island residents. However, its long-term future remains uncertain beyond 2052, when Grant PUD’s license to operate Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams expires.
As part of the process to obtain a new federal license, Grant PUD would be required to demonstrate that its Recreation Resource Management Plan provides sufficient amenities to serve the broadest public use. Officials noted the utility would need to justify to federal dam oversight authorities that maintaining a golf course remains a necessary public amenity on Columbia River shoreline property.
Commissioners Larry Schaapman and Nelson Cox said they favor keeping the course but suggested raising and standardizing green fees so that all golfers — both residents and visitors — pay the same rate.
Commissioner Tom Flint, however, criticized the idea of continuing to operate the course at a loss.
“That course shouldn’t ever have been there to begin with, and we’re kicking the can down the road,” he said of the possibility of having to eventually remove the course, anyway.
Flint also characterized the current operation as Grant PUD “subsidizing very rich people to play golf.”
The commissioners are expected to continue discussions and may signal their preferred direction during the upcoming workshop.
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