NORWALK, Conn. – The intensive development of a master plan for Oak Hills Park is part of the deal if Norwalk goes ahead and allows Jim Downing of Total Driving Range Solutions to build a proposed driving range between the first tee and the sixth green.
Downing said possible recommendations to make the park a draw for more than just golfers include a “Nordic area” and work on the nature trails. The public would be invited to a brainstorming session, he said.
Downing is the winning bidder looking to build a driving range at the park, but the deal is not yet set. Negotiations continue, and Downing unveiled drawings of the proposed double decker driving range at last week’s Oak Hills Park Authority meeting.
Doug Smith, a certified golf architect with the American Society of Golf Architects, would focus on developing a master plan for the golf course if an agreement is met, Downing said.
“You go hole by hole, yard by yard and you really write down what you can do to improve the course, whether it’s changing the layout of sand traps, or fixing the tee boxes or whatever it is that you need to do. The master plan puts everything in it,” Downing said. “You have your to dos for today, you have your to dos for next year and you have your to dos for the future.”
Costs would be included.
“Obviously, the bones are there,” he said. “Everything is in place, you’ve got the golf course. We’ll have the practice area with the range. We’re going to need help. We don’t have the answers right now.”
OHPA member Ernie Desrochers said such a meeting would happen “sooner rather than later.”
The goal is to have people going to the park year round.
“Some of the things we’ve thought about, maybe put in a Nordic area,” Downing said. “You can put an ice skating rink in – it can come down in the summer time.” He also said the Nordic area plan might include cross country skiing.
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