Wildcreek Golf Course's Championship Course is officially closed. Golfers got their last chance to play a round at the 45-year-old Sparks course Sunday before crews fenced it off to prepare it for construction. It will be the site of Washoe County's newest high school. Preliminary work is already happening on the Orr Ditch before grading begins in the spring.
"Through this site, we're actually going to bypass some of the Orr Ditch and put it underground," Pete Etchart, Chief Operating Officer for the Washoe County School District (WCSD) said. "That's just to allow us to start that mass grading in the spring."
Wildcreek opened in 1974 to encourage more tourists. Since then, the area has added several golf courses and the RSCVA said it was losing as much as $300,000 per year to operate it. WCSD bought about 80 acres in June.
"This is a fantastic location, we feel, just because of the location compared to where our other schools are," Etchart said. "Also, it's not easy to find 70-80 acres to build a high school."
The students from Hug High School will move over to the new school in August of 2022, so today's freshmen will be the first graduating class at the new high school. 600 students are also expected to transfer from Spanish Springs H.S. who live primarily in northern Sun Valley. That will reduce the overcrowding in that school.
"We're not just building a brand new school out in the suburbs for the people who can afford to live out in the suburbs but we're building a school for kind of our inner-city population that really has been left behind several times before," Carly Lott, Counselor at Hug High School said.
Lott will move into the school when it opens. Officials say the three-story building will have enough capacity for 2,000 students, more collaborative spaces and the latest in technology.
"I'm really excited for an updated, innovative campus," Lott said. "I understand everybody is upset about traffic but that's, I think, something that we have to deal with with a growing city."
Etchart says the school district did very extensive studies before it purchased the property, including potential issues regarding traffic and drainage.
"There will be a lot of improvements here," Etchart said. "You're going to see roundabouts, you're going to see extended turn lanes, you're going to see a lot more sidewalk because we realize for any of our schools, it's important that students have access to be able to ride their bikes or walk to school."
Washoe County owns the remaining 120 acres, including the nine-hole executive course. That will stay open.
"I love the executive course but now there's going to be more people on it because golfers who play the 18 will be playing the nine," Charlie Holsclaw, Somersett resident said. "We found that out last week when we played."
Many golfers are upset that the larger course is closed, saying the area needs these golf courses as the area grows. Wildcreek is the sixth golf course to close in Washoe County since 2006.
"I'm sure they needed a new high school," Priscilla Reedy, Sparks resident said. "There's more people moving in, so that makes sense but still I'm a little disappointed because it's such a pretty course."
"I've seen dads and their sons or their daughters, hand-in-hand, coming to play golf or learn to play golf and it just breaks my heart that I don't know where they're going to go," Gary, Reno resident said.
Hug High School will convert into a career and technical school when the new school opens. The names of each school have not been decided but they will be narrowed down from 10 to three on Wednesday. The WCSD Board of Trustees will decide on the names, November 12.
