The Hillcrest Golf Club is proceeding with plans for a multi-year, $3.5 million upgrade to their course. The Hillcrest needs approval from the City of Moose Jaw because the course includes City-owned land, and management hope to get municipal project status at the same time.
Municipal Project status for the Hillcrest’s upgrade plans would mean the golf club could issue charitable tax receipts to qualified donors who contribute to the upgrades.
Chris Knoop, current president of the Hillcrest board of directors, and Eric Kemp, an executive member of the board, presented their case to City Council.
“There is a lot of space that’s not getting utilized very well,” Knoop said, “so we’re looking at adding two new holes in that area and utilizing a lot of the other space around our shared property ... quite a bit better.
Knoop said golf is doing well now, with lots of juniors coming out to play and increasing involvement generally.
The upgrades are intended to improve flow-of-play when the course gets busy, bring the course irrigation system to modern standards, reduce the cost of maintenance and water, and add a practice facility.
The plan is to keep as many existing holes open during the infrastructure work as possible to avoid disrupting play.
There were no objections to the motion to give the Hillcrest project municipal project status. Councilor Heather Eby said she’s heard good things about how the Hillcrest has been supporting athleticism in Moose Jaw over the past few years, and Doug Blanc hoped that once renovations were completed the Hillcrest will be empowered to host high-powered tournaments at the national and international levels.
“Thank you very much for your presentation,” said Councilor Crystal Froese. “This is really what the Designated Municipal Project portion of what the City does is for, is to support these types of endeavours.”
Knoop said the Hillcrest currently has about 460 members, divided between 140 corporate memberships, and approximately 320 individuals. About 4,800 rounds of gold are played each month, with 33 per cent of those rounds played by non-club-members.
The motion passed unanimously, giving the Hillcrest Municipal Project status, to expire on Dec. 31, 2029. Either party can terminate the designation with 90 days’ notice.
The Hillcrest has issued a Request For Proposals but doesn’t anticipate any work starting until perhaps Spring 2025.