Kreider Services continues campaign to save Timber Creek Golf Course without county support

Oct. 5—DIXON — Kreider Services is hoping to move forward with plans to keep the Timber Creek Golf Course from closure despite being turned down for a donation from the county.

Kreider Services, which serves more than 600 people with developmental disabilities each year, has been working on a public/private partnership in the hope of taking over Timber Creek, raising $1 million for needed irrigation repairs to better maintain the green and employing 40 to 50 people with disabilities at the facility.

Kreider would become the new owner of Timber Creek after purchasing it for $1, basically making it a donation, from owners Ron Keith and his son, Brett.

[ Kreider Services looks to take over Timber Creek Golf Course ]

The agency, which partnered with investors including Jim and Ryan Marshall, raised about $200,000 in private donations and received a $300,000 grant from the state. They are seeking $400,000 from the Dixon City Council and were unable to secure a $250,000 donation from the Lee County Board.

The board voted down the request in August in a 10-11 vote, Kreider officials and supporters approached the county's finance and executive committees about reconsidering the request, and the board rejected the request to reconsider in a 11-12 vote on Sept. 22.

Kreider Executive Director Jeff Stauter told the board the county's support was key to the project, and he didn't think it could move forward without it.

However, more private donors have taken interest since the board's decision, and they're going to try and raise enough capital to make it work, Stauter said to the City Council Monday.

"Even if it doesn't look the brightest right now, I would ask the City Council to support the project and give those local community leaders that are working on this an opportunity to come up with the resources and make it happen," he said.

[ Historic Timber Creek Golf Course facing closure after failing to secure county funds ]

The project will keep a historic amenity open in Dixon, help generate revenue for Kreider and provide much needed jobs for people with disabilities, he said.

"A golf course, because of the nature of it, provides a lot of opportunities for a variety of work for people, from picking up sticks and raking greens and cleaning carts and just greeting people," Stauter said.

Some could also mow the grass and work in the catering, and food and beverage areas, he said.

The main renovations would cost around $1.4 million to replace the irrigation system and pump house as well as dredge the pond and do work on the green and tee boxes. The drop ceiling in the dining room also needs repairs.

The current irrigation system is more than 50 years old and breaks down regularly. It also plugs up, leaks and doesn't deliver adequate water to maintain the course.

The price tag for the first few years of repairs and operations will likely be about $2.5 million, Stauter said.

Plans also include setting up a large outdoor tent on the tennis courts to host events up to 500 people.

Trees would need to be removed, and they would need to fill in the pool.

Mayor Li Arellano Jr. said annexation would need to be part of the donation agreement as Timber Creek isn't in city limits, and they've also discussed ways to make the facility reach more people in the community, such as with the event tent and golf programs for children.

Stauter said KSB Hospital has pledged to support a youth golf program. The tent likely wouldn't be a feature until late 2023 or early 2024, but it's been made a higher priority in the project.

Councilman Mike Venier said the project is an exciting opportunity, and it will help check a box in the effort to keep Dixon from being "a community without a swimming pool, without a golf course and without a movie theater."

If successful, the course could open in the spring, Stauter said.

"We want to do it right; we want to do it so it is a permanent part of the community and that it is taken care of and becomes one of those places that the city can be proud of."

Stauter said a similar model was used at a golf course in Herkimer, New York, and the project would be a neat, inclusive, one-of-a-kind facility for the Midwest.

Arellano said the city would approve a resolution supporting the project first and then outline expectations that would come with the donation, which would likely come from the city's American Rescue Plan Act funding.

Councilman Chris Bishop said he wanted to make sure the project would be for the long term.

"I do not want the city to be in a position where we rehab a golf course and it's turned around in a couple years, and it's sold to someone else," he said.

Stauter said that wouldn't be the case, and it wouldn't be allowed under their agreement with the Keiths.

The council plans to discuss the donation dollar amount at a future meeting.

Councilman Dennis Considine said it should be upped to $500,000.

"We need to move on it, not just talk about it," Considine said.

Monday's discussion was the first that council members had as a group publicly during a council meeting.

Councilwoman Mary Oros joined project supporters at the Lee County finance committee in September saying the council was committed to giving $400,000, but that members hadn't spoken about it publicly or taken a public vote.

Discussions can take place behind closed doors if there aren't more than two council members in a meeting.

The lack of public discussion prompted community criticism for the donation, and Arellano said during a mayoral update Sept. 20 that they need more openness with large expenses of taxpayer dollars.

Monday's discussion was part of a work session and presentation on the project.

After being closed down for a year, Timber Creek reopened in 2019 after the Keiths signed a lease agreement with Rick and Brenda Humphrey to help revive the facility after failing to find someone to buy it and keep it as a golf course.

The current lease ends Oct. 31.

Timber Creek includes the 18-hole golf course, a banquet center, Bogey's Bar and Grill, an outdoor swimming pool and tennis courts.

The Keiths bought the former Dixon Country Club as it was going out of business on Feb. 1, 2007, for $1.1 million. At the time, membership had dwindled to less than 100.

They renamed it and changed it from a private to a semi-private club, opening it to the public for the first time since its inception in 1915.

They operated the course at a financial loss for years wanting to preserve it in the community and competed with the area's municipal-run courses that can be subsidized by taxpayer dollars.

The land was originally donated by Charles Walgreen, and former President Ronald Reagan was a caddy.

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