CORINTH — City Council members voted in favor of delaying a decision Thursday on the proposal for a disc golf course in Corinth Community Park until additional information is gathered.
The council will meet in 30 days to discuss facts ascertained by city workers on resident and volunteer concerns, such as erosion, tree regrowth and safety issues.
The council also sent back a proposal initially made by the city’s parks board to include an option that could allow for the disc golf course, known as Quisenberry Disc Golf Course, and the existing trail on Pacman Hill to coexist.
Other options presented to the City Council on Thursday included finishing the volunteer-built disc golf course, having the city take over the project or shutting down the project.
After taking a walk through the park recently, council member John Booher said, he felt there were exaggerated claims on both sides of the hotly debated disc golf course issue.
“Given the information we have, it’s very hard to make a decision,” Booher said. “Every time I talk to someone, I get a different story.”
Although there are concerns that will need to be addressed, such as erosion, a breakdown in communication between city staff members and disc golf course volunteers made it difficult for the council to make a wise decision, he said.
“I ask that no action be taken until we can fairly walk through the process,” Booher said as he addressed fellow council members.
Last month, the parks board members said the nine-hole disc golf course was opened without the approval of the city and the construction of the project damaged the community park’s existing multiuse trail.
Volunteers building the course told council members they thought they had approval and were working under the supervision of the parks department. But council members said they had given no such approval.
After the parks board meeting, the course baskets were pulled from the park and work ceased on the disc golf course, leaving tree stumps behind.
Aaron Quisenberry, the organizer behind the disc golf course, told council members on Thursday that Paul Leslie, head of the parks department, said Quisenberry would be unable to make a presentation to parks board members.
When council members questioned Leslie, he told the council he did not feel the parks board meeting was the appropriate place for a presentation on the disc golf course, although he denied telling Quisenberry to not speak.
During last month’s parks board meeting, no one spoke in defense of the course.
Quisenberry told council members the disc golf course would be very beneficial to the park and community, saying he spent about $8,000 in donated funds to prepare the course and had numerous volunteers involved in the laborious process.
Alex Pettit, a Corinth resident and frequent biker in the park, told council members that future plans for the park should be carefully coordinated with residents, which hasn’t been the case thus far.
While there are numerous concerns by all parties involved, Mayor Paul Ruggiere said he hopes homeowners, trail volunteers and disc golf course volunteers can all respect each other.
“They all care about the trail, and as we work through this, I hope they don’t demonize each other,” Ruggiere said. “The real blunder was on the behalf of the city, and we’re going to take steps to see that it doesn’t happen again.”
