Olympic organizers should study the Mountain Dell golf course just as carefully as the canyons above it before recommending a site for cross-country and biathlon events, Salt Lake officials have decided.
But the Salt Lake Organizing Committee - which needs city approval to move the venue into the canyons - isn't going to consider the golf course, said Dave Johnson, senior vice president of Games.The golf course was in Salt Lake City's bids for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games. The move was proposed earlier this year after athletes complained the golf course doesn't get enough snow and wouldn't make for a challenging course.
The city, which owns both sites, believes it will choose between them. The Mountain Dell and Little Dell reservoirs are a major source of water for the city, as well as a recreation site area.
SLOC President Tom Welch said it's not up to the city to decide where the venue goes. If the canyons site is rejected, he said organizers will "go back to the drawing board" rather than to the golf course.
However, the golf course could be used for some activities during the Olympics if the canyons site is chosen, Welch said. Otherwise, organizers are no longer interested in the golf course site.
The proposed move has split the group put together by the organizing committee to endorse the new site, with environmentalist members coming out against using the canyons.
They were frustrated over the organizing committee's plan to hire a consultant for $100,000 to focus on the canyons site and give the golf course only a brief look.
Now the city has agreed that both sites should be given the same treatment by the consultant, and is asking the organizing committee to modify the job description that's being put out for bid next month.
"We are requesting that the full range of issues be applied to both sites so that we can make an informed decision," said Renee Tanner, assistant to Mayor Deedee Corradini on environmental issues.
"The community has certainly voiced an interest in hearing" about both sites, Tanner said, referring to the members of the Sierra Club, Save Our Canyons, and other environmental groups who oppose the canyons site.
Wes Odell, of Save Our Canyons, said Olympic organizers may have to look beyond the golf course and the canyons to find a site that meets both athletes' and environmentalists' concerns.
"The environmentalists are not committed to the golf course," Odell said. "We'd love to work with them and find a mutually acceptable third location." Snow-basin has been suggested as a possibilty.
Athletes, too, are getting frustrated with the process. "It's turning out to be a very political thing," John Aalberg, vice president of the Utah Nordic Alliance, said.
Aalberg, a native of Norway who competed in cross-country events in the past two Winter Games, said it's a waste of money to study using the golf course for the course.
"It's not challenging. It doesn't hold snow. It's next to the freeway. When you cross-country ski, you want to be in the trees . . . away from the roaring trucks," Aalberg said.
He said putting the course in the canyons would create not just a permanent training and competition site for athletes, but a recreation area that could be enjoyed by many Utahns.
Aalberg said the course only needs to be 18-feet wide, and all or nearly all of the support services needed to host the Olympics could be housed in temporary buildings that would be removed after the Games.
Using the golf course also poses a problem for the city. It likely would have to be closed for several years for construction as well as pre-Olympic test events, and it could take another summer to restore the course.
The 36-hole course at Mountain Dell is a major moneymaker for the city. During the budget year that ended on June 30, more than $1.6 million was collected from golfers, more than any of the city's other six golf courses.
"It's a lot of money. We have a golf course that's very popular. Our fund depends on the money that golf course generates. So yes, it's a factor we'll consider," said Rick Graham, deputy director of public services for the city.
Graham said the city wants to find out whether the golf course would have to be shut down during the summer construction seasons or whether the work could be done in phases.