Voters to decide on golf lease

The lease that Buffalo Hill Golf Course holds with the city of Kalispell will go to a public vote in November.

The Kalispell City Council voted unanimously Monday night to put Kalispell Golf Association's request for a 20-year lease extension on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

They will seek public approval for the golf course to continue operating on the 240 acres of city land between U.S. 93 North and Whitefish Stage Road.

A vote amending the original motion that did not call for a public vote, however, was not unanimous. The council split 5-3 on the amendment, with Kari Gabriel, Randy Kenyon and Tim Kluesner saying it is unnecessary

The current lease has eight years remaining, not long enough to satisfy lenders considering the golf association's request for money to carry out some substantial capital improvement projects. Only minor changes were made in the lease language, mostly to assure preservation of the city's asset at the golf course and to update lease fees.

Kalispell Golf Association will pay the city a minimum $13,000 annual fee, or more based on a sliding scale indexed to their profits.

For more on this story, read Wednesday's Daily Inter Lake.