
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 14, 1995                   TAG: 9511140115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOLF COURSE STUDY APPROVED IN SALEM

Mowles Spring Park has been closed to the public more than a year. But Salem City Council on Monday agreed to look at opening it back up - this time as a golf course.

Council approved paying a subsidiary of the National Golf Foundation up to $17,500 to study the financial feasibility of a city-run golf course at the 238-acre park.

The park was closed to the public in October 1994 after state regulations required the city to cover its 20-acre landfill inside the park.

Soil near the park's entrance was the only soil on the property that met environmental standards to cover the dump. With the entrance dug up, the city had to close the park.

State regulations also limit what can be built near and over the covered landfill. One alternative is to build a golf course, said Vice Mayor Sonny Tarpley.

Mayor Jim Taliaferro said the park could be preserved, but a golf course would be a source of revenue for the city.

That money could offset the $25,000 a year it's costing the city to maintain and monitor the closed landfill.

Councilman John Givens, a golfer himself, said he has noticed crowding on area golf courses and believes there could be demand for another course.

"I can't help but to think it's a good idea," he said.

In June, City Council appointed a 12-member committee to study the feasibility of the golf course and a municipal swimming pool.

During that meeting, Smith said a drawing of an 18-hole golf course had been done for the park, but its feasibility needed to be determined first.

The committee's chairman, Dr. Walter Franke, said Tuesday that the committee did not have the resources to study the financial aspects of a proposed course and recommended that council have an outside consulting agency conduct the study.

Franke said the study should take about four weeks.

It will be done in three phases, with a report to council after each phase.

Tarpley said the golf association would be an objective source of information.

"They are not involved in any aspect where they would get a penny," he said.

Franke said the committee's second charge, to study a municipal swimming pool, is still in the works. He did not know when a recommendation might be made to City Council.

by CNB