River Bend too valuable to let it go

If you were entrusted with 420 acres of riverfront property within the city limits, on which millions had been spent refurbishing, what would you do with it?

Anyone who's been to the River Bend Golf and Recreation Area knows that it's not just a golf course. In addition to also having the only driving range within short reach of the city, and a mini golf links, there's the locally unique waterfall and play area at Discovery Canyon, an extensive hiking trail, cross-country ski course, and riverside pickup and embarkment area for people floating on the river. Plus, there is a footbridge linking the area to more than 100 km of recreational trails through the city.

That's a whole lot of amenities to look after, year round.

And there's also a clubhouse, restaurant, banquet hall and small sport shop on the site.

I wouldn't want to embarrass myself by even trying to estimate the value of the total package, especially considering its location. Neither would I attempt to put a dollar figure against its intrinsic value to the well-being of the city. But either calculation would figure large.

So, if the group that's been designated to look after all of this on your behalf tells you they don't have the cash flow to make payments on their business licence, plus a $1.7 million loan you've given them, what do you do?

It seems your options are pretty limited.

You could fire the whole management group, and operate River Bend yourself while you look for replacements. Good luck with that.

You could sell the entire lot, and hope to recover maybe half of what you've spent on it by now, and then hope the new owners operate the park in a way that fits the original mandate for building it in the first place. That seems like a pretty good way to both lose millions of dollars in investment value and lose control of what was once a valuable public amenity.

Or, you could trust the group you have in place, give them some leadership and guidance through a rough economic patch, and believe that this 420 acres of riverfront park and amenities are worth keeping, worth maintaining and worth a bit more judicious investment.

That's the course city council has agreed to.

The non-profit group that manages the site will continue to operate for another three years. They'll have to pay their business taxes, but the city has agreed to waive $337,800 a year in licence fees. The city will also defer receiving payment on a $1.7 million loan for improvements to the clubhouse.

The society is responsible for the operation of the whole site, but golf and non-golf activities will be managed separately. The city will pay a fee for service for the non-golf amenities, like the popular water park and trails. That comes to just over $12,000 a month for the next three years.

There will also be some capital costs to the city, for things like keeping the water park, trails and boat landing in good condition (the city owns these things, not the society).

All in all, that's a pretty significant investment in city recreation.

So, what if you don't golf all that much, or you don't have children or grandchildren of an age to enjoy the waterfall park? What if sitting on your wet butt in an inflatable raft in cold river water for several hours isn't your idea of fun? What if you don't want to drive to a park, just so you can go for a walk? What if the hills on the cross-country ski trail are a little too steep for your skill level?

If you're a taxpayer in that category, what's in this for you?

The answer is the same as I would give to taxpayers who don't do hockey, figure skating, speedskating, swimming, slow-pitch fastball, minor football or soccer. The answer is that for a city to have any pride in itself at all, it needs these things, and it needs them in a quantity and quality that makes them useful.

When an old, exhausted gravel pit on inside bend of the river right on the city doorstep comes available, you take it. You spend the money to make it as nice a golf course as you can, and you add everything to it that makes sense, so that the greatest number of people can enjoy it.

Pretty well everyone who uses the area remarks on how nice it is, and how it makes living in Red Deer better for them. That makes River Bend an asset very much worth keeping.

It also reinforces the burden on the society operating the area to find ways to have it make some financial return to the taxpayers who own it, while keeping the whole area accessible to the public. A golf course with a publicly-available clubhouse and banquet room ain't a ball diamond in a neighbourhood park; it has to find a way to pay for its upkeep.

They've got three more years to figure that out.