Almost a week after Dynamic Discs owner Jeremy Rusco purchased and renamed the former Emporia Community Club, the city of Emporia has taken action to lend its full support to his vision and the sport of disc golf as a whole.
Following the first of two executive sessions as part of their regular action meeting Wednesday, commissioners approved a series of steps, six to be exact, to that end including providing a 10-year $500,000 forgivable loan for the newly christened Champion’s Landing. The loan will require that Rusco host at least one major disc golf event each year of the loan’s duration. There is a 5-percent interest rate but that is also forgivable if terms are met.
Additional steps will include a mortgage on the real estate, a subordination agreement with Rusco that makes the city’s loan secondary only to ESB Financial’s loan, an agreement for the Reeble Park outdoor pickleball facility which is on city property and a pair of easements, one for parking access on Reeble and the other for utility work. Emporia has long been known as the “disc golf capital of the world” and City Manager Trey Cocking says the city’s action Wednesday will only further cement that legacy.
City Commissioner Jamie Sauder announced his excitement both for the city’s involvement and Rusco’s purchase of the property last week. Sauder says when the disc golf course on the property was first established it was unique due to its location and conjunction with an established traditional golf course.
In recent years, many other communities have “stepped up their game” according to Sauder in providing similarly “unique” courses to their residents. He sees the city’s recently announced involvement in Champion’s Landing as an opportunity for Emporia to up its own game.
Following a separate executive session, commissioners would approve a quartet of resolutions related to various easements within the Kretsinger Tract to establish eminent domain over the tract’s various properties. City Attorney Christina Montgomery says Wednesday’s action by commissioners is not the final action in the process but rather just the starting point.
Montgomery says the “proceedings” will go through Lyon County District Court due to a variety of reasons, many of which she was not able to elaborate on aside from saying that one of the properties, the Howe House, is designated as a historical site having been placed on the National Register of Historic Places back in 1986.
Montgomery says it could be a month or more before the process makes its way to district court as they are still working through the “preliminary issues” at this time.
For additional details from Wednesday’s action and study meetings visit this story at KVOE.com. The Emporia City Commission will reconvene for its regular action and study meetings on Wednesday, February 21 at 11 am.
