On Thursday, it was standing room only at the Sky Ranch Middle School cafeteria, as locals gathered for a public meeting on the issue surrounding the Red Hawk Golf Course.

The site has two 18-hole courses: The Hills Course and The Lakes Course. Any potential development would impact the latter.

The initial plan, submitted to the city of Sparks by developer Wingfield Nevada Group, involves tearing down the course to bring 764 single and multi-family homes on the grounds.

The session was led by the Wingfield Springs Preservation Group, which is made up of local homeowners like Tom Ciesynski.

“We want to communicate to the city leaders that this is very stressful,” Ciesynski said.

Those like Ciesynski who oppose the plan cite the potential for increased traffic in the area with more housing, and the damage development could cause to the area’s wetlands and wildlife. This portion of Sparks was also a 1994 Master Plan Community.

“Now that we’ve been here for over 20 years, closer to 30 years, it feels like maybe the rug’s getting pulled out from underneath us. After we’ve gotten this community. And it’s not about a bunch of rich homeowners, it’s about developing a well-thought-out master plan community that’s a golden jewel in the city of Sparks,” said Ciesynski.

Red Hawk has cited financial challenges in the golf industry as the reason for the plans.

Back in November of last year, developers met with the city of Sparks, but the application is still under review by Sparks’ city staff.

A few representatives from the city of Sparks were on hand for Thursday’s meeting, including Ward 3 councilman Paul Anderson.

“It’s over 3,000 pages. They just received it. And it’s gonna take some time to go through every single part of it. There are so many steps that the city has to review to approve a project. And they’ve only just begun,” said Anderson.

No action on the development was taken on Thursday. Down the line, if plans were approved by the city, they would still need the green light from multiple regional boards before coming before the city council.