Note: to see the latest posting, scroll all the way down-things are posted in date order starting with the oldest first.
Mayor calls for golf course meeting
Journal Staff Report
ABQ Journal / Rio West Section
4/27/13
RIO RANCHO — Mayor Tom Swisstack at Wednesday’s City Council meeting asked city staff to arrange a work session to discuss ways the city might help the eventual purchaser of Chamisa Hils Golf and Country Club.
Swisstack has talked about the golf course as an asset to the city’s quality of life.
Chamisa Hills owner Harry Apodaca has put the 43-year-old golf course up for sale via an online auction on May 29 through Colorado based NavPoint Real Estate. The minimum bid is set at $850,000.
Apodaca said the facility has been losing money for years. He said a new water rate schedule the council approved in January played a role in his decision to sell. The new schedule will raise the rate he pays for recycled water to irrigate the course from 47 cents per 1,000 to $3.28 in June 2014.
Several city residents who spoke at the meeting said the golf course has been deteriorating for years.
Councilor Mark Scott, whose district includes the golf course, said the workshop could help revolve confusion about zoning of the golf course property. Councilors Chuck Wilkins and Lonnie Clayton thought it was premature to hold a workshop before a buyer has emerged.
Rio Rancho golf course key amenity for city
ABQ Journal / Rio West Section
4/27/13
Journal Staff Editorial
Mayor hopes council approves less of a recycled water rate increase
Whether you golf or not, public or private courses represent an asset to communities. And it’s possible New Mexico’s third largest city soon won’t have one. The Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club is going on the auction block on May 29. The minimum bid is $850,000. A huge water rate increase is the biggest factor driving the sale.
Club owner Harry Apodaca says he expects the annual bill for watering the course to go from $160,000 to about $635,000. He says the resort is losing money.
The 235.5-acre property includes a 27-hole golf course, clubhouse, six tennis courts, liquor license and surplus land that could be residential development.
For homeowners who bought near the golf course, it’s a shock, even though some have complained for years the course has been deteriorating. For the community as a whole, losing open space to another possible housing development or worse isn’t attractive either. Amenities like golf courses, good schools, parks, ball fields and attractive shopping areas draw businesses and investors to a community. And help it to grow.
The city is in no position to buy the course — even at the fire sale price of less than $1 million — but May or Tom Swisstack this week offered an olive branch that might help Chamisa Hills to remain viable. He suggests the city lower the effluent/recycled rate increase from a maximum of 70 percent, what the City Council approved in January, to 50 percent as suggested by city staff at the time.
In his response to the city budget proposal for fiscal 2013-2014, Swisstack says, “I believe that this historic area should remain an open space, a golf course, and a quality of life amenity, which adds value to the community.”
The council should get behind this idea pronto because driving businesses — and assets — out of the community benefits no one.
By JERRY FOSSENIER, Rio Rancho Resident
ABQ Journal / Rio West Section
4/27/13
MANY RESIDENTS in Rio Rancho share a concern for what may happen to Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club.
We understand that currently it is not a moneymaking enterprise and the owner would like to dispose of it.
It is unfortunate that the city of Rio Rancho intends to increase the cost of irrigation water by five times and then more in 2017.
This will certainly affect the demise of the club.
Did city officials factor in the loss of any irrigation revenue if the club cannot afford to purchase it?
If the club fails, what about the loss of tax revenue? What about the loss of employment for the staff?
Has economic development for the community been considered? We know the facility has been a positive amenity for the city and the adjacent property owners. The owner realizes that it would be virtually impossible to rezone the property for traditional residential development because of resistance by the adjacent property owners.
I suggest a compromise be discussed between city officials and the owner.
Perhaps they could collaborate in hiring a professional design firm that would address a modified residential plan that might include green belt areas near the lakes, which would be retained for irrigation, and these areas included in the city’s park system.
The residential lots would be designed low density, appealing to high end homes. This would be reviewed, modified if necessary, and pre-approved by the city’s Planning and Zoning Department.
The club owner would then have a product qualified and appealing for sale to subdivision developers.
The clubhouse could be an upscale restaurant for all to enjoy. This is a plan that property owners can support. Everyone would benefit.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
BY ARGEN DUNCAN Observer staff writer
RR Observer
The Rio Rancho Governing Body isn’t considering purchasing Chamisa Hills Country Club, but most members agreed to a workshop to discuss what support they could offer another buyer.
The country club, which features Rio Rancho’s only golf course, is up for online auction May 29. Some people have been concerned about whether the buyer would keep the golf course or develop the space into housing.
At the governing body meeting Wednesday night at City Hall, Mayor Tom Swisstack said he wants to see how the city might become involved with the country club, as it’s done in the past. The 235-acre golf course is open space, and values of neighboring property are a concern, he said.
“I think it’s important to know at least among ourselves what we’re willing to do,” Swisstack said.
Councilors Lonnie Clayton and Chuck Wilkins wanted to have a work session after the auction because they said they didn’t know what the new owner would do. However, the other four councilors didn’t protest an earlier session, and Councilor Mark Scott said he wants the time to ask questions and quell rumors as soon as possible.
Rio Rancho resident Dawnn Robinson said she was glad the city wasn’t considering buying the course because she didn’t see where it would get the money.
On the other hand, Chris O’Donnell, who also lives near the golf course, said he didn’t think getting a private buyer for the course was feasible and suggested the city couldn’t afford to not buy the facility.
“This is something that has value to the city so far beyond dollars and cents,” he said.
Now, he said, buying a country club membership isn’t worth it because of the golf course’s poor condition.
O’Donnell wasn’t the only one dissatisfied with the country club and its owners, led by Harry Apodaca.
Placitas del Sueños resident Alison Grainger said the owners talked about a plan for a lush golf course when they took over in 2003.
“It never happened,” she said.
Grainger wants to work with the new owners but have them join a homeowners association for accountability.
“We just come up against a brick wall every time we try to approach the owners,” she said.
Twenty-year country club member Kathy Colley asked homeowners along the golf course to support it by becoming country club members. If she lived along the course, Colley said, it would be worth $600 a year to protect her property value.
Scott said Chamisa Hills General Manager Ray Duran, son-in-law of owner Harry Apodaca, told a group of homeowners his father-in-law was dedicated to the country club for the long term 13 days before Scott learned the club was for sale.
Scott said he knew one potential bidder was in the room and another two were watching the meeting remotely. With the right management and marketing, he said, Chamisa Hills could be a good opportunity.
If everyone living on the golf course bought a membership, the country club would bring in $3.5 million a year, Scott said. He said that amount would cover the recent rate increase for the recycled water the club uses for irrigation.
Rates are going up to $4.54 per 1,000 gallons by 2017.
Clayton said the country club had received a “free ride” on water for the past 15 years, paying 47 cents per 1,000 gallons while the rest of the recycled water in the state cost more than $2 per 1,000 gallons. Still, he said he didn’t deny that Chamisa Hills drew people to Rio Rancho.
Wilkins said the club had overhead costs of $1.3 million and revenue of $2 million in 2010. The 2012 revenue is projected to be $2.4 million, he said.
He said he thought the club could make a profit if needed improvements were made.
The work session wasn’t scheduled at the meeting.
Wildlife needs the golf course, too
ABQ Journal Rio West Section
5/25/13
AS A PILOT I have occasion to fly over the Rio Rancho community.
The land along the River Ranch (Rio Rancho) is mostly reflective
shades of brown. Only on each side of the river for a few hundred feet
is the ribbon of green, a pleasant line of multicolored space. I can
imagine the birds and insects following it like an interstate highway.
The Chamisa Hills are an exception. Four distinct fingers of green
beckon wildlife and humans to the islands of green and blue. They act as
an oasis. Pools of water dance sunlight through the green trees, the
green fairways like oblong jade, soft on the eyes.
It would be a great tragedy to fill this green space with houses,
concrete and heatreflecting roof tiles of brown.
On behalf of the nonspeaking population, save the green space at
Chamisa Hills.
DR. JERRY D. BROWN
Rio Rancho
Residents prepare to wage legal war
ABQ Journal Rio West Section
5/25/13
THE RUMORS about the Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club sale continue to fly and the residents affected in the city of Rio Rancho are getting really upset. Some are mad as hell and are organizing and preparing to fight back. Here’s a look at why people are getting so mad.
NavPoint Real Estate Group, located in Colorado, is marketing the property as “land parcels that can potentially be planned for additional residential development.” Anyone can go to the NavPoint Real Estate Group website and view the offering.
What would this do to real estate values of home sites that were purchased on or near the golf course and those who paid a premium for their lots? You can start by knocking $50,000 or more off the value of your home. There are about 900 homes that directly touch the golf course and that would mean about a $45,000,000 loss of value in an instant.
If a land developer buys the Country Club with the thought of selling home lots cut from the golf course property, they will be buying a total headache. Pandora’s box will seem like child’s play compared to the wrath of 900-1,000 homeowners filing lawsuits against the owners and beating up on their Rio Rancho elected officials. Yes, you could say this will be war.
What the area residents want is for the golf course to remain a golf course. And of course, they would also like to see it improved. You can be assured that 1,000 homeowners will be intently watching the May 29 auction of the Chamisa Hills Golf and County Club auction.
WILLIAM H. D. TAYLOR
Rio Rancho
Concerned residents urge buyer to keep golf course
Redevelopment could affect property values, lifestyle of residents
Albuquerque Journal Rio West Section
By Elaine D. Briseño Journal Staff Writer
5/25/13
Residents near the Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club are worried the property’s impending sale will be the end of the greenery and the start of dense housing development that will diminish their property values and quality of life.
The 235-acre property includes a golf course, a clubhouse, swimming pool and tennis courts, and spans several southeast Rio Rancho neighborhoods. It is scheduled to go on the auctioning block Wednesday, with a minimum starting bid set at $850,000.
Covenants that restricted use of the property to a golf course and country club expired in 2008, opening the door for other development. The new owners would have to apply for a zone change with the city if they wanted to use it for a different purpose.
“The covenants did expire and whoever buys it can do what they want with the property,” said former Rio Rancho councilor Kathy Colley.
NavPoint Real Estate Group in Colorado is handling the auction. The company’s “offering memo” mentions the possibility of rezoning the property for residential development. Although the memo also discusses making improvements and leaving the property as is, it is the possibility of the land being parceled and redeveloped that has most upset nearby residents.
City spokesman Peter Wells said there are 678 parcels with homes that abut the golf course and an additional 14 empty lots.
Will Proffitt’s backyard butts up to the No. 4 hole on the north course. Proffitt, president of the Stonehenge/ Estates at High Resort Homeowners Association Inc., said he bought his home off the golf course eight years ago and is worried about his property value.
He said he hopes that whomever buys the new property maintains its current use but also restores it to its former state. Parts of the golf course have steadily deteriorated over the years.
He said neighbors don’t want to stop the sale, they just want an owner who will maintain the property as a golf course and country club.
“We need to impress on a buyer that this is a golf course and not vacant land,” he said in a letter to the Journal. He said if the land is developed “it would be added congestion and degraded lifestyle ...”
Doug Taylor owns a house about two blocks from the golf course and said he is also
worried about what the new owner will do with the property and how that will affect his property value.
“I like the club,” he said. “It’s a beautiful amenity. The views are spectacular. I’m upset.”
Jerry Brown said the only motivating factor in buying his home a month and a half ago was that it was on the golf course. He said he would never have purchased it if he had known there was a chance the golf course would no longer exist.
“If it becomes clogged with houses,” he said, “I will move somewhere else.”
Current Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club owner Harry Apodaca has said he has been losing “hundreds of thousand of dollars” annually and that the new water rates that become effective in June 2014 were the “last straw.”
The city entertained buying the property in 2011 but never moved forward on it.
Date: Wed, 29 May 2013 08:51:52 -0600
Subject: Rio Rancho country club auction today
Rio Rancho country club auction today
By Elaine D. Briseño Journal Staff Writer
Wed, May 29, 2013
ABQ Journal Online
Residents near the Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club are worried the property’s impending sale will be the end of the greenery and the start of dense housing development that will diminish their property values and quality of life.
The 235-acre property includes a golf course, a clubhouse, swimming pool and tennis courts, and spans several southeast Rio Rancho neighborhoods. It is scheduled to go on the auction block today, with a minimum starting bid set at $850,000.
Covenants that restricted use of the property to a golf course and country club expired in 2008, opening the door for other development. The new owners would have to apply for a zone change with the city if they wanted to use it for a different purpose.
“The covenants did expire and whoever buys it can do what they want with the property,” said former Rio Rancho councilor Kathy Colley.
NavPoint Real Estate Group in Colorado is handling the auction. The company’s “offering memo” mentions the possibility of rezoning the property for residential development. Although the memo also discusses making improvements and leaving the property as is, it is the possibility of the land being parceled and redeveloped that has most upset nearby residents.
City spokesman Peter Wells said there are 678 parcels with homes that abut the golf course and an additional 14 empty lots.
Will Proffitt’s backyard butts up to the No. 4 hole on the north course. Proffitt, president of the Stonehenge/Estates at High Resort Homeowners Association Inc., said he bought his home off the golf course eight years ago and is worried about his property value.
He said he hopes that whomever buys the new property maintains its current use but also restores it to its former state. Parts of the golf course have steadily deteriorated over the years.
He said neighbors don’t want to stop the sale, they just want an owner who will maintain the property as a golf course and country club.
“We need to impress on a buyer that this is a golf course and not vacant land,” he said in a letter to the Journal. He said if the land is developed “it would be added congestion and degraded lifestyle *”
Doug Taylor owns a house about two blocks from the golf course and said he is also worried about what the new owner will do with the property and how that will affect his property value.
“I like the club,” he said. “It’s a beautiful amenity. The views are spectacular. I’m upset.”
Jerry Brown said the only motivating factor in buying his home a month and a half ago was that it was on the golf course. He said he would never have purchased it if he had known there was a chance the golf course would no longer exist.
“If it becomes clogged with houses,” he said, “I will move somewhere else.”
Current Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club owner Harry Apodaca has said he has been losing “hundreds of thousand of dollars” annually and that the new water rates that become effective in June 2014 were the “last straw.”
The city entertained buying the property in 2011 but never moved forward on it.
Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 9:08 AM
subject: "Are we being played"
Neighbors,
To follow is a article in the observer this weekend. I wonder if we are all being "played"? What happened to the auction? Everyone backed out? Really? Not even one bidder? I have been contacted by two bidders and they wanted to bid and had the money. One of them submitted an offer for twice the bid price and was turned down (so he tells me) So here is my quote for the day ? "I am not sure what to believe" as I have been lied to in the past. Take March 26 2013 for example..... (see the other bog postings) Has the owner of the gold course ever lied to you? Let me know,.......So what is the truth, will we ever know?
Mark Scott
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Here is the article in the paper from this weekend....
Country club sale format changes
By Gary Herron Rio Rancho Observer Staff Writer
Sun, Jun 2, 2013
The 235-acre Chamisa Hills Country Club’s new owner, it seems, won’t be known until next Monday at the earliest.
That’s because what had been planned as an online auction, with the bidding starting at $850,000, on Wednesday for four hours turned into a sealed-bid auction. Those bids are due at 2 p.m. on June 10.
Proficient golfers can notch a birdie or an eagle while playing; they’ll see ducks on the ponds and often seeking food on the greens.
But Realtor Matt Call of NavPoint Real Estate Group in Castle Rock, Colo. said the real sticking point in the deal is “the elephant in the room.”
“What changes the game plan (from an online auction to a sealed-bid format) is that all of our interested parties — over 60 parties, half-a-dozen serious — the elephant in the room is the water rates, the perceived inflexibility in the rates,” Call said. “The partner we need to have at the table is the city — the city is going to be the lynchpin at the end of the day.”
Barring a special meeting of the governing body, the next council meeting is June 12 — two days after the sealed bids are due.
“We want to have a meeting with stakeholders; my NavPoint team wants to be at a city council meeting,” Call said.
“We view the city as the partner at the table; we want to work cooperatively and collaboratively with the City of Rio Rancho to make a deal here we know the city wants to work with the new owner and we want to facilitate that process,” he said. “We need to negotiate a reasonable water rate or the current owner is likely going to shut the doors. That’s blunt, but that’s reality.
“Property owners will be hurt if it shuts down,” Call said. “The owner wants to move it, but the water rates, as structured now, is not viable. The market has clearly told us that. We’ve got plenty of groups lined up.”
The alteration in the auction threw a wedge into Rio Ranchoan Bob Hunter’s plan; he’s hopeful a local ownership group, possibly one that will sell shares in the club, would be able to seal a deal Wednesday. Hunter described himself as an interested third party or, he joked, “an instigator.”
Hunter, a CHCC member several times, said he has a well-known former golf pro overseas who has the inclination — and the cash — to buy the country club and golf course, plus other amenities. That fellow previously tried to buy CHCC from Apodaca, Hunter said. “He thought it was a steal at a million-and-a-half,” but Apodaca turned him down.
“My guy … is still interested and he may make a sealed-bid offer,” Hunter said Wednesday afternoon. “My role is to try to put together a group that has the cash and to sell memberships and create interest in the country club, once a new owner has taken over.
“I’ve tried at least twice, and maybe three times, to get the members to buy it and make it an equity club. We came close,” he said.
Hunter, 77, practically lives to play golf.
He said he initially wanted to play baseball, and played the game for Oklahoma State University. His dad refused to let him sign a pro contract, though, he said, but he still played baseball at various levels until he was 30.
He took up golf when he was 32, he said, and hasn’t stopped; he played a round Wednesday, when the online auction should have been going on.
“In 1991, it was pristine,” Hunter recalled of the property. “AMREP owned it and the water and everything. That’s why we decided to move here from Houston — bought a lot and built a house on East Lake Drive. I’ve seen two ownership changes —and it kept getting worse.
“AMREP sold it to a bank; the bank sold it to the Brown family,” he said. Harry Apodaca is the current owner.
“I joined originally in 1991. I dropped my membership and went back to Oklahoma in 2002, and came back in 2004,” Hunter said. “I’m extremely interested in it staying a golf course, number one, and staying a country club.” But once was a pristine course 20 years ago has deteriorated, Hunter said. “Right now, the golf course is not in very good shape.”
Hunter said he knows someone “who can make it a go with 50 percent of the water use; it can still be a viable golf course. To develop it would be disastrous — to the residents and the city.
“If anyone wanted to develop it, there would be a number of class-action law suits,” he added.
Hunter said the party he is working with “is not concerned with the condition of the golf course — with his technology, we can make this thing great. His plan is to market the whole country club, (and) include a roof over the pool to use it year ’round.”
Hunter, in sales and marketing before he retired, is optimistic “his guys” can acquire CHCC and return it to the condition it once was known for.
“I love the game and I love good golf courses — this was and it could be again,” Hunter said.
(Chamisa Hills auction canceled; ‘Sealed bids’ to be taken up to June 10
By Elaine D. Briseño Journal Staff Writer
ABQ Journal Rio West Section
6/1/2013
Neighbors near the Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club will have to wait a little longer to learn the fate of the property, which is up for sale.
A live auction scheduled for Wednesday was canceled and instead the real estate group handling the sale, NavPoint Real Estate Group out of Colorado, will take “sealed bids” until at least June 10.
Some neighbors have expressed fear that the new owners will fill in the property with residential development.
Current owner Harry Apodaca said Wednesday that the live auction was canceled because there were not enough “qualified” registered bidders.
Matt Call, principal realtor working on the sale, said although almost 70 people registered for the auction, none put down the $10,000 required to participate in the live auction. Since then, he said about half a dozen buyers have shown “serious interest” in the property.
Call said the city’s impending water rate increase has kept interested buyers at bay. Starting June 2014, the charge for treated wastewater used to irrigate the course will go from 47 cents to $3.28 per 1,000 gallons.
“In the case of Chamisa, the big issue we are dealing with is the water rates,” Call said. “We need a creative collaboration with the city to make sure this remains a golf course.”
City Councilor Chuck Wilkins said he doesn’t think the water rates are as much of deterrent as Apodaca claims. And, he said, although it’s a significant rate increase, it’s reasonable and the property has had the same water rate since 1995.
“It’s not right for citizens to subsidize a private golf course,” he said. “There are people who are low-income and they pay the same rate as everyone else. Is it fair to those people to subsidize a private golf course?”
Apodaca said he still hopes the city will consider reducing the rates for the new owner since the property is one of the city’s largest water users. Apodaca said during May, June, July and August he uses about 25 million gallons of water every month.
“With the rate increase,” he said. “There is no way this property could be viable.”
Meanwhile, Councilor Mark Scott, who represents the area of the city where the golf course is located, has sent a letter to the Mayor Tom Swisstack asking him to schedule a work session in the next two weeks regarding Chamisa Hills. Scott said he wants to give residents a chance to express their views, offer the current owner a chance to address the governing body, and give the council time to “review and discuss, for our benefit and that of the public, all, and I stress all, of the facts” about the property.
Swisstack could not be reached for comment.
Scott said he would like to see the property remain a country club and golf course. He said the right buyer could come up with options that don’t involve the city but keep the property a golf course.
“It’s a private business,” Scott said. “We have to support private businesses equally.”
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Note from Councilor Scott: The following is an article as appeared in the Journal. Please note, as usual the reporter did not call me for comment. I guess we will wait and see if we have a new owner this week. We can only hope. This property has such potential, any one that has lived here for more than 15 years can recall what it used to be. There used to be 1000 members, now they are down to under 200.......
Chamisa Hills: Once a jewel is now a disgrace
By JAMES YODICE Of the Journal
ABQ Journal Rio West Section
6/8/2013
Emptying some thoughts: SAD DAYS: I shudder to think how embarrassing it would be for the state’s third-largest city to not have a public golf course.
But we could be headed toward exactly that scenario with Chamisa Hills Country Club.
At some point, perhaps as early as next month, Chamisa will have a new owner.
That owner will be faced with a couple of options. One, he — or she or they — can pour money into the golf course and make a sincere effort to restore some of its past glory.
This is a subject I’ve touched on many times through the years, that being the decay of Rio Rancho Country Club, which is what it was called when I learned to play golf there.
It was once a robust, vibrant property, a golf course with a sterling reputation and green grass as far as the eye can see. It was a pleasure and a privilege to play.
It is far from that today. It’s upsetting and frustrating and depressing to see what’s become of this golf course, and how its condition reflects poorly on the city as a whole. It continues to be in dire need of a huge makeover.
Personally, I hope the new owner will make an effort to save the golf course. Although it is going to require a substantial financial investment to perform the type of cosmetic surgery required to make these particular grounds presentable again. Will the new owner fork over that kind of money?
Another option is that the new owner simply plows over the golf course, puts it out of its misery, and develops the land for some residential or commercial application.
Many residents who live on the golf course fear this outcome. They fear a drop in their property values if the golf course disappears. These are people who sought out homes in that area because of the golf course.
This golf course has become a giant wart on Rio Rancho’s skin. I take no pleasure in writing those words. But that’s an accurate description.
I’m of two minds on this. A part of me is desperate for someone to save this place.
The other part of me doesn’t want to see this course suffer anymore. I’ve said this before, too, and it remains true: It’s been like watching a friend die a slow death. It is achingly painful.
We’ll talk more about this subject later in the summer, I’m sure. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
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Another article in the ALB Journal. Interesting how they always quote the owner of the golf course. Notice the quote from me? ....Nope..... Never. I am the one that pressured the Mayor to get this work session finally scheduled (even though he said he would, but didn't) But no mention of that.
Mark Scott
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Workshop set to discuss golf course
Journal Staff Report
ABQ Journal Rio West Section
6/8/13
RIO RANCHO * Mayor Tom Swisstack has called for a City Council workshop to discuss the Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club.
The workshop will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Rio Rancho City Hall.
City staff will give background information on the golf course facility and an overview of its current situation. Swisstack will discuss water rates for the golf course. Councilors and members of the public will be able to make comments.
Golf course owner Harry Apodaca listed the facility for sale via an online auction on May 29 but the auction was canceled for lack of qualified bidders. The Colorado real estate agent, NavPoint Realty Group, will accept sealed bids until June 10.
Apodaca has said a water rate increase scheduled to take effect in mid-2014 was a key factor in his decision to put the course up for sale.
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Note from Councilor Scott: Here is an article that appeared (6/10/13) in the Journal. You can see we are still beating the "water rates" ".. the big issue we are dealing with is the water rates," drum, when the owner has been receiving almost free water since he has owned the country club. Everything is dying and yesterday at 4:12pm when it was 98 degrees there was a large sprinkler stuck on for hours and hours making a swamp. No one noticed from the club. Do you find that this owner has been a good steward of the water that you have been subsidizing for years? It is time for a new owner. One who will respect the community the water and the land. I hope one will come forward soon.
Neighbors to face longer wait to learn RR golf course’s fate
By Elaine D. Brise*o Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal Business Outlook
6/10/13
RIO RANCHO — Neighbors near the Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club will have to wait a little longer to learn the fate of the property, which is up for sale.
A live auction scheduled for May 29 was canceled and instead the real-estate group handling the sale, NavPoint Real Estate Group out of Colorado, will take “sealed bids” until at least through today.
Some neighbors have expressed fear that the new owners will fill in the property with residential development.
Current owner Harry Apodaca said the live auction was canceled because there were not enough “qualified” registered bidders.
Matt Call, principal Realtor working on the sale, said although almost 70 people registered for the auction, none put down the $10,000 required to participate in the live auction. Since then, he said about half a dozen buyers have shown “serious interest” in the property.
Call said the city’s impending water-rate increase has kept interested buyers at bay. Starting June 2014, the charge for treated waste water used to irrigate the course will go from 47 cents to $3.28 per 1,000 gallons.
“In the case of Chamisa, the big issue we are dealing with is the water rates,” Call said. “We need a creative collaboration with the city to make sure this remains a golf course.”
City Councilor Chuck Wilkins said he doesn’t think the water rates are as much of deterrent as Apodaca claims. And, he said, although it’s a significant rate increase, it’s reasonable and the property has had the same water rate since 1995.
“It’s not right for citizens to subsidize a private golf course,” he said. “There are people who are low-income and they pay the same rate as everyone else. Is it fair to those people to subsidize a private golf course?”
Apodaca said he still hopes the city will consider reducing the rates for the new owner since the property is one of the city’s largest water users. Apodaca said during May, June, July and August he uses about 25 million gallons of water every month.
“With the rate increase,” he said. “There is no way this property could be viable.”
Meanwhile, Councilor Mark Scott, who represents the area of the city where the golf course is located, has sent a letter to the Mayor Tom Swisstack asking him to schedule a work session regarding Chamisa Hills. Scott said he wants to give residents a chance to express their views, offer the current owner a chance to address the governing body, and give the council time to “review and discuss, for our benefit and that of the public, all, and I stress all, of the facts” about the property.
Scott said he would like to see the property remain a country club and golf course.
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Start course rehab in North 9, then go to other areas
Sunday, June 23, 2013
RR Observer
Editor:
We have some good news about CHCC and this quote: “Look, the North 9 is devastated, we all see that. The final solution for that? I don’t have that answer yet.” — Michael Schumacher, in the Observer, 17 June.
Look, the North 9 is only devastated because it was selected for sacrifice years ago to provide sod for the East and West 9s. There has been a program of stripping turf from the North’s fairways for that purpose for at least the past five years.
This has recently included the sod laid to cover the scars of the reuse water project.
And now, with the North 9 no longer in use, we see turf from the greens being stripped as well.
I don’t wish to be perceived as beating the proverbial dead horse, here.
After all, we think the course is to be successfully transferred to a person actually interested in golf (and the other amenities of Chamisa Hills). See his mission statement in the above referenced article.
The point is to suggest that the North 9 is where to start, where to begin the rehabilitation that all three courses desperately need.
When a plan is developed, it could be executed on the North 9, refined as needed and then taken to the East and West courses in turn.
In this way, there would always be 18 holes to play and a magnificent 27-hole course could result.
Will Proffitt
Rio Rancho
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Positive news for all in Rio Rancho
Common Sense by MIKE & GENIE RYAN For the Journal
ABQ Journal Rio West Section
6/22/13
Recent Rio Rancho news looks positive for the city’s future.
With the pending purchase of Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club by Michael Schumacher and his company BIZDOC Capital Group Inc., it would appear the city may keep a golf course, its green acreage and the amenities available at the club.
Hooray for the city, and a great big thank you to Schumacher. The city will benefit from having a lovely setting with such great facilities like Chamisa Hills, especially once it is back in shape. It will provide many adults and children with a lot of activities and socializing — and just plain fun — as it has done in the past.
The golf course’s open space brings a reprieve to a city with too few parks and probably too much concrete, and is a welcome respite for the community. We would have hated to see it disappear. We understand the golfers and residents with homes abutting the golf course are especially pleased that the land will not become another subdivision, but so are many others.
We sincerely hope a compromise can be reached to alleviate the pain of the new water rates. Although the huge increase is adversely affecting everyone, it is unbearable for a golf course. We need to believe our city officials will work with the new owner and make compromises so the club can be successful. After all, we make deals with other businesses who want to locate in our fair city.
Another positive event that bodes well for Rio Rancho is the preliminary approval of three new subdivisions near City Hall and the event center.
We understand homes won’t be built overnight and it will take even longer for the supporting businesses to get started, but this type of development in that area has been badly needed. It could truly be the beginning of the City Center becoming the center of our community. With homes and the supporting business being built, the decision to locate government offices, businesses, centers for higher education and an entertainment venue in that location seems wise.
We can envision the City Center becoming the heart of the city. If it can evolve into “the place” where people go for entertainment, shopping, dining, business and school, then we will have found what Rio Rancho has lacked all these years. And those homes that are being built will be in great demand.
We applaud the builders who have decided to create neighborhoods in that location.
Last week, we also got word that Central New Mexico Community College is working with the University of New Mexico West to provide advanced nursing degrees at the Rio Rancho campus. It would be wonderful if students could continue their nursing education and obtain a bachelor’s degree in Rio Rancho, a degree that opens doors that might not be available otherwise. This program could become a prototype for solutions to other education problems our students face.
The collaboration between UNM and CNM also highlights the very real possibilities and opportunities for successful programs in Rio Rancho, given time, patience and resources. We applaud those who have worked for this and sincerely hope it is only the beginning of innovations in learning at our Rio Rancho campuses.
It appears that Rio Rancho is once again on the move.
Contact the Ryans at ryan@abqjournal.com.
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Here are some additional facts you may not know
Cost of credit hour for our young and old people alike attending UNM:
UNM Main Campus $252.00
UNM RIo Rancho Campus $252.00
UNM Taos $71.00
UNM Gallup $71.00
UNM Valencia $65.00
Rio Rancho subsidizes the UNM Hospital at $8,000,000.00 per year (from your property tax)
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June 24, 2013
Neighbors and Friends,
I received the following message from the Observer. She is looking for
comment on the golf course. Please feel free to contact her with your
thoughts, hopes and your positive comments about the golf course. We
need to travel in a positive direction to have a positive outcome.
Thank you,
Mark Scott
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Councilor Scott,
As we talked about on the phone, I'm hoping to find a couple of
residents who want to talk about what the golf course means to them for the
article about your call to action. They can email me (aduncan@rrobserver.com) or
call (891-7171). I'll need the comments by 10 a.m. Tuesday, but I plan
to be in the office late tonight, probably until at least 8 p.m., so they
can reach me after work if need be.
Thanks for the help!
Argen
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