Carson City Supervisor Brad Bonkowski addresses Empire Ranch Golf Course issue

There is a lot of misinformation circulating regarding Carson City’s possible future involvement with the Empire Ranch Golf Course. I have heard and read many inaccurate statements regarding what actions, if any, the city might take in regards to the course. I want to help clear that up, and address the facts as I understand them.

— The owner of Empire Ranch is in bankruptcy. This is of concern to the city for two reasons: (1) the city is owed back property taxes in the amount of $ 183,894.98 by the owner, and (2) the city counts on this site to dispose of wastewater effluent.

— If the city chose to purchase the golf course, the money could come from bond proceeds from the recent sewer rate increases although the city has not contemplated doing this. Utility rates were increased to bond for, and the bond proceeds are designated to, upgrades to the existing waste water treatment facility, to fund several completely new technology components at the plant and to replace much of the existing equipment which is years past its useful lifespan.

— The city has other options to fund such a purchase, if it were contemplated, as we could enter into a lease/purchase arrangement to acquire the land as long as the term of the agreement does not exceed ten years.

Effluent water is water treated by the sewage treatment plant, but is not safe for drinking and has elevated levels of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus.

In the late 1970’s, Carson City entered into a consent decree with the federal government and was mandated to stop discharging effluent into the Carson River because it couldn’t meet the strict nutrient standards.

The most cost effective alternative was to use the effluent to irrigate crops or golf courses as long as the “crop” is harvested to capture the nutrients so they do not enter the water table.

There is an additional concern that the current owner of the Empire Ranch Golf Course could sell the land to another private party, or the bankruptcy judge could order a liquidation sale of the property and a new owner may contemplate a different use for the land. If that happened, it could prevent the city from disposing of the effluent water on the site.

— Empire Ranch Golf Course accounts for nearly 20% of the total effluent usage and is second in delivery priority, ahead of Eagle Valley Golf Course, Silver Oak Golf Course and city parks and open space. The landowner currently has a right to terminate the effluent agreement with the city with one year’s notice or ask for their full allocation of effluent, at 1,385 acre-feet per year rather than the 790 acre-feet they currently receive.

An acre-foot of water is defined as being one acre of land covered under one foot of water, or 325,851 gallons or 8,150 bathtubs.

— If the Nevada State Prison Farm took its full allocation of effluent and Empire Ranch did the same there would literally be no water left over to irrigate Eagle Valley Golf Course, or Silver Oak Golf Course.

There is a redundant irrigation system in place for city parks which enables the city to use potable water to irrigate them if needed.

— The city uses Empire Ranch Golf Course (in addition to Eagle Valley Golf Course, Silver Oak Golf Course, and the Nevada State Prison Farm ) to dispose of the effluent because disposal to the Carson River is not an option.

Each effluent site is permitted by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) and is required to maintain an effluent management plan. Due to a consent decree with NDEP, if we discharged effluent into the river it would result in penalties of $38,000 per day, for each violation of our discharge permit.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could take legal action against Carson City as they did in the 1970’s and force the City to make necessary improvements to our treatment facility, then charge Carson City for those improvements, as well as pay the substantial fines.

As a creditor to the bankruptcy, the city has taken the action of ordering an appraisal of the golf course to determine the value, so that in the event the land is ordered sold by the bankruptcy judge the city has an idea of the value to compare against other possible options to dispose of effluent. This is the only action the city has taken.

The city does have options available for effluent disposal.

— One option is to purchase Empire Ranch Golf Course and place a deed restriction on the property so that the city would be guaranteed the use of the land for effluent disposal in perpetuity, after which Carson City could sell the property to a golf course operator, land developer or other interested party. The cost of this option can partially be determined by the appraisal ordered by the Board of Supervisors.

— Another option is to take the effluent to the City open space lands acquired along the Carson River (Anderson-Girard property). This would entail extending an existing effluent pipeline to the ranch at an estimated cost of up to $3,500,000 and Carson City would have to provide the required studies to develop an effluent management plan and obtain the permits through NDEP.

— A third option is to upgrade our treatment plant to be able to treat our wastewater to levels sufficient to meet the river discharge standards, so we could discharge to the river. The cost of these upgrades could be up to $100,000,000.

This option is very unlikely as the effluent requirements are so stringent, they are considered to be at the limit of technology and may not be attainable. Even if Carson City was able to meet the discharge limits through upgrades there is no assurance that the federal government would not lower the limits further meaning the money spent on upgrades would have been wasted.

— As a fourth option we could build an additional reservoir in Brunswick Canyon to hold the excess effluent. This option could cost as much as $30,000,000. This option is also unlikely as it would be a temporary solution; Carson City could eventually run out of storage capacity again, and additional discharge sites could be required at additional expense.

So what could the city do with the golf course if the city purchased it?

— It would likely not operate it as a golf course. The city already operates one golf course and I do not believe any of the stakeholder groups involved would suggest the city own and operate two.

— The city would need to continue to irrigate (to dispose of the effluent) and harvest the grass in order to keep our permits in compliance.

— A likely course of action would be to record a deed restriction to ensure that the city can continue to dispose of the effluent in perpetuity, after which we could re-sell the property.

— The city could keep the land and operate it for some other recreational purpose, such as a park, disk golf course, open space, or agricultural purposes.

But all of this is simply conjecture at this point. The city is a long way from making any decision about the property... the Board of Supervisors is just trying to be diligent as part of a bankruptcy proceeding in which we have a vested interest on behalf of the taxpayers of Carson City. This is a complex issue with no easy answers.

I will be hosting an Empire Ranch neighborhood meeting to discuss these issues on: Wednesday March 12, 2014 at 6:00 pm at Empire Ranch Golf Course clubhouse.

Brad Bonkowski
Carson City Supervisor, Ward 2