Replacing irrigation system at Westview Golf Course won’t be cheap or quick

QUINCY — Quincy Park District officials discussed replacing the irrigation system at Westview Golf course during Wednesday night’s monthly meeting inside the organization’s Bonansinga Drive compound.

David Morgan, director of golf for the district, detailed how a series of ongoing problems with the current system — coupled with its age — raise the need for an overhaul. Replacing the existing system for the 27-hole course will be neither inexpensive or quick.

“The existing system is about 30 years old,” Morgan said. “We’ve done everything we can. It’s just old. These systems are deigned to last 25 to 30 years.”

Rome Frericks, executive director of the district, spoke in terms of bottom lines. If and when the project comes to fruition, it will be a lengthy process.

“The cost will be $2.5 million to $3 million,” Frericks said. “This is something that will take three to five years.”

John Frankenhoff, one of the Park Board’s seven commissioners, said if a plan can be created, it would need to be funded by taxpayers. Frankenhoff is not convinced all 27 holes need to be included in a study to see if a new irrigation system is workable. He noted the decline in number of annual rounds of golf played at Westview might suggest selling or redeveloping the acreage on holes 19-27 could be in the district’s future.

District officials pointed out the number of annual rounds at Westview has fallen from in recent years 60,000 to 30,000, due in part to the rise of other quality public courses in the region.

District representatives will begin discussion surrounding the irrigation issue with EC Design Group of West Des Moines, Iowa, later this month.

The board also approved a proposal that would begin the process of the Lorenzo Bull House, 1550 Maine, to be recognized as a local landmark. The house sits on a four-acre site and is an Italianate structure dating to the 1850s. The Lorenzo Bull Park area also is the home of the Women’s City Club and the Quincy Art Center.

District officials had been approached by the Friends of the Lorenzo Bull House organization to apply for landmark status, which would allow organization volunteers to market the building for future fundraising efforts and provides volunteers to add future programming.

Improvements to the Bull House, built in 1852, do not need approval of the Quincy Preservation Commission as long as Park District maintains the current architectural look of the building’s past. The district would need approval from the group if demolition of the building would occur in the future or any significant modifications are made to the existing building.

The Quincy City Council will next examine the proposals tied to the Bull House.

The board also gave an OK for local food truck vendors to sell their products in city parks. More concrete information concerning which parks vendors can use, plus available times and dates, will be forthcoming. Commissioners said this will be a situation that “will be monitored” with changes made “when needed.”