Grand board tries to get a handle on palm tree issue

The Sun City Grand board of directors will establish a sub-committee to determine the right course of action for replacing date palms that have died on the Cimarron Golf Course.

After a special workshop Thursday morning in which the board toured the golf course in areas where new date palms would be planted, board President John Such announced at a regular workshop later in the day that three members of the board would likely discuss the costly issue before the board would proceed with any decisions.

"We had a caravan ... and had these before and after pictures of various areas we've identified as possibly needing some additional date palms (or) Mexican sand palms," he said. "Based on what we saw this morning we'll probably set up a committee of three board members who will sit down and come up with a consensus of what the board feels that we can ... put in there to maintain the beauty of the Cimarron Golf Course (and) how much we can afford. The financial issue is still out there with us, and we've got to take a good strong look at that."

The board denied a motion at a regular meeting in May to spend $351,000 of which $100,000 is included in the current fiscal budget.

The board has tossed around several numbers for how many trees would be replaced from the more than 100 that have died since the creation of the course. Most recently the board considered 50 date palms but Such said that figure was not final.

"Are we going to do 50? I can't you that right now," he said. "Not every hole needs additional trees added."

The special workshop was planned after concerns arose about how the replacement palms would be planted and what possible damage the process could cause the golf course. Such cited "too many questions" as a reason for the board's decision to hold off on the expenditure at last month's meeting.