New $3M Clubhouse for Valleywood Golf Course a Go After City Council Vote

The 30-plus residents attending Thursday's Apple Valley City Council meeting erupted into applause as the council approved 4-1 the construction of a new clubhouse for the city's .

The council also approved CNH Architects as the architect for the project and Bossardt Corporation as the construction manager.

Sketches show the clubhouse would be about 8,100 square feet on each floor—the first floor and the basement level—and is estimated to cost $2.96 million. The current clubhouse is about 3,600 square feet, and was built in 1980 by Dakota County Technical College students at a cost of about $85,000.

"Honestly, we've used it up," Councilman Clint Hooppaw said of the current clubhouse.

The actual cost of the new clubhouse would need to be refined after receiving formal bids. Members of the Valleywood task force—golf course officials, city officials and city council members—proposed using $1 million of the city's parks dedication fund and taking a $2 million loan from the city's future capital projects to pay for the building, which it would pay back to the city at a minimum $50,000 per year.

The building as envisioned should be able to seat 140 to 150 people, said golf course manager Jim Zinck, which would accommodate large tournaments.

Zinck said officials hope to lay the foundation for the building before winter, so work could continue on the building during the winter; the memo to the city council says October would be the anticipated start.

Councilwoman Ruth Grendahl voted against building a new clubhouse by the specifications proposed; she said she would've supported a cost of $1 million.

"The word that comes to mind is grandiose," Grendahl said. "If I didn’t know better I’d think this was a WPA project."

Check back Friday for more explanation, and comments from Thursday's discussion about the new clubhouse.