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Duffers who love Salt Lake City's Nibley Golf Course can breathe a sigh of relief — the links will remain as they are.
That appears to be a legal reality despite an official recommendation from the City Council to the administration of Mayor Ralph Becker that it consider re-purposing the nine-hole course near 2700 S. 700 East for other recreation options.
The deed for the land recorded in 1922 requires that Salt Lake City use it as a golf course or return the acreage to the Nibley family.
In February, the council also recommended that Wingpointe Golf Course be given to Salt Lake City International Airport and that the Glendale Golf Course be closed and transformed for other recreational needs. It had earlier determined to close the Jordan River Par 3, but to keep the grounds as open space.
The council's recommendation came after 18 months of discussions aimed at getting the city's golf system into the black. It has run up an operations debt of about $1.5 million and has more than $20 million in deferred maintenance.
The golf enterprise fund is self-sustaining, largely through cart and green fees. By city ordinance, it cannot be supported by taxpayers and the general fund.
The question now arises: With Nibley off the table, will the council's recommendation be enough to get the system out of debt as demanded by law. Becker had said if the council did not find a solution, he would.
Leading up to its long-awaited proposal, the council commissioned two reports from consultants, received a review from a citizens advisory committee and accepted proposals from Westminster College students and business students from the University of Utah.
Over long months and numerous discussions, the council was briefed on more than one occasion that the Nibley links could not be transformed for other uses because of the deed restrictions.
Nonetheless, at its Feb. 24 work session, Councilman Stan Penfold proposed adding Nibley to the list of courses to be closed if the city attorney's office determined it could be done within the bounds of the deed. The council adopted Penfold's recommendation that included Nibley, Wingpointe and Glendale by a 5-2 vote, with Councilwomen Lisa Adams and Erin Mendenhall dissenting.
In an interview last week, Penfold said he didn't want to close the door on the possibility that Nibley could be transformed into a park.
"At the time, we didn't have a full interpretation from our legal team," he said. "We didn't want to take it off the table until we knew for sure."
Councilman Charlie Luke echoed Penfold's sentiments, but added that he had hoped the city could create a multi-tiered driving range at Nibley that would serve the entire city, while using some of the golf-course acreage for other recreation purposes.
"It was just one last try to see if there was a way of still having golf [there] by creating a destination driving range," Luke said.
Becker's budget team is now assessing whether the council's suggested cuts will be enough for the golf system to produce a profit and tackle neglected maintenance, said City Hall spokesman Art Raymond.
The administration, too, believed there may have been some wiggle room in the Nibley deed to allow for other activities, Raymond noted.
"At that time, the question had not been unequivocally addressed," he said. "Where it leaves us now is that Nibley is off the list [for closure]."
Although the mayor's analysts have not yet completed the budget for the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1, Raymond said the administration is optimistic that discarding Wingpointe and closing Glendale and the Jordan River Par 3 could be enough to get the golf system back on an even keel.
The mayor will present his budget to the council during the first week of May.