Tee off for Vista Ridge delayed until next March

Managing Editor ERIE ? Developers of Vista Ridge Golf Club expected their18-hole course in Erie to be open by now, but a county road running through a couple of fairways has delayed tee times.

The 7,440-yard course, one of 11 under construction in Colorado, will be ready for special-events play in September, but its grand opening to the public won’t be until March 2003, said Andy Chaikovsky, a principal of Vista Ridge Development Corp., which owns the course and is developing the Vista Ridge Community around the course.

Weld County Road 5, which led to a landfill, ran through holes No. 11 and No. 15, slowing the construction process, said Jay Morrish, a co-designer of the course. Before Weld County would abandon the road, developers were required to construct a road to take its place that would bypass the course, Chaikovsky said. They also had to receive approval from Broomfield County and the Colorado Department of Transportation.

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WCR 5 ran through the fairway on No. 11, and it intersected the second landing area and the green on the Par 5 No. 15.

?That was more of an irritation rather than a delay,? said Ric Bucton of Denver-based Redstone Group, which co-designed the course with Texas-based Jay Morrish & Associates LTD.

But the road flap wasn’t the only obstacle the Westminster-based developers had to overcome to get their golf course and housing development under way. In addition to the $10 million golf course, the project includes Vista Ridge community, which will consist of homes, parks, pools, playing fields and a marketplace on 900 acres. The course will wind through the community.

Chaikovsky and partner Barry Talley began the project five years ago, and met with some resistance from Erie residents in 2000. After purchasing the land from 11 separate landowners, having it annexed into the town of Erie and rezoned, and receiving project approval from Erie’s town board in February 2000, Chaikovsky and Talley had to sweat out a public vote on the project. A group of citizens gathered enough petition signatures to place a question on Erie’s May 2000 ballot asking whether the project should built or not. Fifty-nine percent of voters approved the project. ?That was a tense time,? Chaikovsky said.

Developers also spent $1 million on the infrastructure to pipe, store and distribute the town of Erie’s wastewater, or gray water, which will be used to irrigate the course and the surrounding community’s common areas, parks and trails.

?We think that’s a reliable and smart source of water. People still have to take baths during a drought,? Chaikovsky said.

Vista Ridge is Chaikovsky and Talley’s first golf course. ?We want this to be a premier golf course in the north market. Of course, our intent is to have the course enhance the quality of the village we will develop,? Chaikovsky said. The partners recently developed Grant Ranch, a 1,950-home development in south Denver.

The village will include low-maintenance townhomes, patio homes and condominiums priced from the mid-$100s to the $300s, single-family homes from the low $200s to the $400s, semi-custom homes from the $400s to the $600s, and custom homes from the $600s. Plans also call for the future construction of luxury apartments.

John Laing Homes and D. R. Horton Homes will be constructing single-family homes at Vista Ridge.

The course is expected to be another feather in the cap of co-architects The Redstone Group and Morrish, who worked for golfer and course designer Jack Nicklaus, built 20 courses with pro golfer Tom Weiskopf and have been involved in the design of several courses ranked in the top 100 in the United States.

The course will be able to accommodate college- and professional-level tournaments and all caliber of amateur play. It will have five sets of tees, with a playing-distance range from 4,807 yards for seniors and juniors to 7,440 yards for long hitters. Chaikovsky said the 232-acre course is about 30 percent larger than most courses, which are generally built on about 175 acres. Fairways will be broad, with landing areas 350 feet wide, and homes will be set back 30 feet from the rough, he said. The course also will have a top-notch driving range and practice facility, he said.

While Vista Ridge will own the course, it will be open to the public and managed by Troon Golf. A 12,000-square-foot clubhouse will be built. ?It will be more like a country club,? Chaikovsky said.