Mayor Geno Martini
Sparks City Hall
431 Prater Way
Sparks, NV 89431
Dear Mr. Martini,
Early this year, the D'Andrea Golf Course was re-purchased by InSymphony Private Capital LLC, a real estate financing and investment firm based in Phoenix, AZ for the sum of One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00). Employees currently working at the clubhouse at the D'Andrea Golf Course have reported that InSymphony has sold the course back to the original owner of the golf course, Will Gustafson. Mr. Gustafson has plans to convert the old club house into a banquet hall and abandon the golf course completely. To residents in the D'Andrea area, this has shown pure neglect of the golf course and has become a serious problem.
For example, the once green and thriving grass has now turned brown and is now over-grown with weeds and debris. Under the guidelines in the original D'Andrea Development Standards Handbook (DSHB) for building plans for the golf course, it states: "Disturbance will be kept to a minimum, and preferably within the eventual limits of maintained turf…Areas outside of the fairways and rough will be left native, providing a stunning contrast between the dark green of the golf course with the browns and light greens of the native vegetation." Pg. 3-42. Not only has the golf course become an eye-sore, but it has also become a fire-hazard. DSHB building plans for the course states: "Homeowners of D'Andrea will comply with defensible space guidelines per Nevada Division of Forestry…Landscape maintenance is a key element in overall good defensible space programs for homes in wild land areas…The Nevada Division of Forestry laws require the cleaning of all flammable vegetation a minimum of 30-feet around homes and other structures." Pg. 3-43.
It is clear that the DSHB, or the Sparks City TOD Plan, is not being followed by the new owner, Mr. Gustafson, and changes must be made. There are a few possible solutions to this problem. First, is to not issue any business permits for the clubhouse until all violations are corrected. Another possible solution lies in re-negotiating D'Andrea's water contract. In Northern Las Vegas and Mesquite Nevada, the cities charge 30 cents and 21 cents respectively per 1,000 gallons of reclaimed water used. However, Sparks had a 20 year contract to charge the D'Andrea golf course 91 cents per 1000 gallons of reclaimed water used. A lot of the of the reclaimed water that once fed the golf course is now being pumped into the Truckee River through the Steamboat Canal; this water has high levels of nitrogen and Sparks, NV, only has so many credits for reclaimed water that the city can pump into the river. If this continues, according to one the key employee at the Sparks City Managers office, the city of Sparks will be forced to build another water treatment plant for a minimum cost of Seventy Million Dollars up to One Hundred Million Dollars ($70,000,000.00-$100,000,000.00). Not only would this solution relieve D'Andrea of an eye sore but it would save Sparks from investing in a multi-million dollar project that can be avoided. The city of Fernley had the same problem with reclaimed water, and now each resident pays eighteen dollars ($18.00) a month for the building of a new water treatment plant to service the Fernley area.
A separate posing issue caused by the lack of upkeep is our children's safety. Marvin Moss Elementary School is across the street from a par 5 hole that had already previously housed rattle snakes. With the new cover of weeds, and the kids cutting through or taking a short cut to school, it is only an amount of time before a child is bitten as well. It is now an attractive and serious nuisance. I want this to be taken as a notice that it is inevitable for kids to hurt themselves if the grounds are not kept up. Parents will look to blame responsibility on someone, or some entity, and the city does not need any more strife than is already being presented.
The Desert Lakes Golf Course in Fernley has changed ownership three separate times, and has "gone brown" with each change of ownership. The course is in great shape today, due to the new owner abiding by the original plans for that development. It took very little seeding in the fairways and greens, with lots of water, to bring back the dormant and dead course.
The homeowners in D'Andrea desire to live in a well-kept, pleasant-looking area free of snakes and fire hazards. I hope that this problem will be fixed. Thank you for your time.
If you need any documentation to support the facts listed, please feel free to contact me at my office using the contact information listed below.
Sincerely,
John Rhoads, General Partner
JSR Enterprises, a Nevada FLP
3708 Lakeside DR #202
Reno, NV 89509
cc:
TMWA, Mr. Shaun D. Carey - City Manager, Council Member Julia Ratti, Council Member Ed Lawson, Council Member Ron Smith, Council Member Mike Carrigan, Council Member Ron Schmitt, Chair Art Sperber, Vice Chair Barbara Sanders, Doug Voelz, George Cammarota, Tom Lean, Mitch Nowicki, James Fewins, City Planner Armando Ornelas, Assistant City Attorney Doug Thornley, Senior Planner Jim Rundle, Senior Planner Tim Thompson, Senior Planner Karen Melby and Administrative Secretary Janet Stout
