If a group of high school students have their way, Dolores residents will be playing frisbee golf in town this year.
The group of students, freshmen and sophomores in Katrina Welsh's Character, Leadership and Service class, proposed to the Dolores Town Board Monday night the construction of a frisbee golf course at Joe Rowell Park.
The Town Board gave the students a nod so that they could move forward with the project and bring back more completed plans.
"This would be a low-cost project for us," Town Manager Ryan Mahoney said.
A small group of the students gave a presentation to the board. They talked about the health benefits of the game, which essentially involves throwing disks into baskets or "holes" like golf. A typical course has 18 holes and the students proposed to place nine baskets at Joe Rowell Park.
The students told the board that the baskets typically cost between $130 and $500 each and were hoping to buy only one and give it to a vocational class at the Dolores High School, where it will be duplicated by the students who are skilled at welding.
The students also told the board that local businesses could sponsor a basket and have their name placed on a plaque on the basket. West was given two business cards after his presentation, by businesses already interested. Anyone else interested is asked to call Welsh at the Dolores High School, at 882-7288.
The students proposed that three baskets would be installed this year and the remained six over the next couple of semesters.
"Anyone can come and enjoy the course, whenever," freshman Austin West said.
Trustee Ginger Black was pleased with the students' presentation.
"It sounds like a fun addition," she said.
Mahoney said he plans on teaming up with a professional frisbee golfer out of Durango to help design the course.
Also Monday, board members approved, on second reading, an ordinance that makes underage possession and consumption of alcohol illegal. While it is already illegal, the new Dolores Town law will make it easier for deputies to enforce and will make it easier to enforce following a rise in underage drinking that many reported last year long the river.
In other news, Mahoney told the board that the sales tax for Dolores was up about $4,000 over last year, a good sign.
He told the board he is working with Colorado Department of Transportation to get sidewalks built along Highway 145 near the library later this year. He also mentioned that the students at Ft. Lewis College will do an economic impact study for the town that looks at how the trails in the area affect the Dolores economy.
In the meantime, the Town Board voted to approve a service agreement with the Durango company, RPI. The agreement will allow RPI to do a trails plan for the town and will be paid, for the most part, by a Great Outdoors Colorado Grant.
Also Monday, the Town Board directed town staff not to allow the Dolores School District to purchase or lease the old town maintenance lot just east of the high school. Instead, the board and the board's attorney, Mike Green, felt it was more appropriate to rent the lot to the contractors who will eventually do new construction on campus.
"At this point in time, we are not interested in selling the property," Mahoney said.
Green said it would be easier on the town if the lease does not go through the school district. The school district proposed to the town earlier this year that the district hoped to buy the piece of land so as to use it during construction of the BEST-grant and bond-funded improvements on campus.
Mahoney also mentioned he wanted to get an environmental assessment on the piece of property before it was leased out.