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56 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, May 1, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 30, 2005 This pond at Paradise Ranch outside Merlin will be included in a proposed 18-hole golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus and set to open in 2007. The project will include cottages for guests and 200 homes surrounding the fairways. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Nicklaus magic in Merlin? $30 million resort project planned for Paradise Ranch property By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Golf legend Jack Nicklaus is designing an 18-hole championship course at a proposed Sunriver-style destination resort on the 320-acre Paradise Ranch in Merlin, with tee-off scheduled for 2007. If built, the 7,400-yard layout would become the longest course in the Rogue Valley and feature a 100-room cottage complex for guests and 200 home sites surrounding the fairways, making it the first major destination resort in the area. "I think we’re going to be the only one in Southern Oregon," said Bill Leep, a principal partner with Sequoia Partners LLC, which owns the property. The course will be semi-private, offering limited hours for the public. The Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed fairways in Eagle Point currently have the distinction of being the longest locally at 7,099 yards. Advertisement The Merlin course, about 10 minutes north of Grants Pass and west of Interstate 5, will surpass in size one under construction at the Rogue Valley Manor. At 7,300 yards, the manor’s course will sit to the east of Interstate 5 at the southern end of Medford, opening in spring 2006. Nicklaus, who has designed more than 200 courses around the world, has made trips to Merlin to size up the gently rolling grounds of Paradise Ranch, which already features a lagoon, homes, a former restaurant and a defunct three-hole golf course. Workers have been clearing brush in preparation for construction of the course and poles have been erected to give some idea of where the new fairways would be built. Nicklaus, who will design the course in collaboration with his son Jack Nicklaus II, has one other signature course in Oregon — The Club at Pronghorn, located between Bend and Redmond. Leep, who is also a Jacksonville City Council member, said the city of Grants Pass has approved tapping into city water for the project, which will require running a 6,000-foot waterline. The city water will be used for the cottages and for homes, but well water and recycled water will irrigate the fairways, he said. The course will use about 600,000 gallons on a peak day compared to other golf courses that use about 1 million gallons, he said. "We want to really cut the water consumption," said Leep, noting the design of the course will incorporate technological features to minimize water use. He said his company has the financial backing to build the project, which could cost roughly $30 million. He said a premium is being paid to get Nicklaus involved in the design of the project. "We’re way too far along now," he said. "There’s no turning back." With other golf courses in the works for Southern Oregon, Leep didn’t think that another 18 holes would be too much for the area. "There’s a real mystique about a Nicklaus course," he said. Also the type of development, which he compares to the destination resort at Sunriver, would help attract customers, offering accommodations, restaurants and easy access to the freeway and a small airport nearby. Michael Snider, planning director at the Josephine County Planning Office, said there have been many discussions about the project, including visits by Nicklaus. So far, though, no application has been filed with the county, although he’s been told they are close to finalizing the drawings. "We’ve met with them many times," he said. "We’ve had interim iterations ad nauseam." Some of the bureaucratic hurdles were cleared when the property was owned by German real estate developer Herbert Hillebrand, who proposed a similar destination resort, Snider said. In 1993, the project received approval, but was appealed to the Land Use Board of Appeals. The project was finally approved in the mid ’90s, Snider said. Sequoia Partners has altered the plans and has been working on wetlands and engineering issues surrounding the project. Final approval is still subject to site plan review, said Snider. He expects some opposition to the plan from neighbors. "There is an anti-growth enclave out there," he said. Leep, who hopes to file plans with the county in the next two months and begin construction by fall, said his company has tried to work with Grants Pass and the community to make the project as appealing as possible. "We want to have a low-impact-style facility," he said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans Tatoo tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoos Advertisement s