Even if Wichita sells MacDonald, it can still make sure it stays a golf course

Wichita can ensure that MacDonald Golf Course remains a golf course, even if the city does sell it to the developer of the Waterfront, a council member said.

Council member Pete Meitzner said he thinks the city could and probably would make that part of any request for proposals to sell the course.

Meitzner said “It makes perfect sense for it to remain a golf-centered area,” and “If we do an RFP, we could make that a condition.”

Selling the course for anything other than golf use would undercut a city pact with First Tee, a nonprofit youth golf program that is highly popular with the council. In April, the city inked a deal with First Tee to build a $1.5 million driving range and instruction center at MacDonald.

Wichita is considering an unsolicited offer for the course from prominent local developer Johnny Stevens.

Stevens is best known for developing the Waterfront, an upscale shopping, dining and office center at 13th and Webb. His offer for the golf course is scheduled to be discussed in a special meeting of the city’s Golf Advisory Committee at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

Stevens is well-known locally as a golf enthusiast.

Park and Recreation Director Troy Houtman said Stevens had learned of financial stresses at the city’s golf system and apparently wants to buy and operate the course himself.

MacDonald made money for the city’s golf enterprise fund in the 1990s to 2004, and from 2007 until 2016. But last year, the expense of operating the course exceeded its income by $134,000, according to a city report.

That same report postulated that the golf course property has “significant potential for low-density residential development featuring the flood plain as an open space amenity like (in) the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood that adjoins the golf course to the southeast.”

In addition, “The golf course has frontage along 13th Street North, where there is potential for commercial and/or higher density residential development,” the report said.

There are no deed restrictions that would stop the city Park Board from selling the land for any purpose.

MacDonald was the original course of the private Wichita Country Club and was purchased for public use in 1948.

At that time, the Park Board was a separate elected body, so the board still technically owns the course and could sell the land even though the board has since been absorbed into city government and its members are city appointees.

The board would have to follow city bidding rules and give others the chance to make proposals for the course before selling it, city officials said.

This story was originally published August 19, 2018 at 1:14 PM.