The executive director for the nonprofit Inland Northwest Golf Foundation, the parent to The First Tee of the Inland Northwest chapter here, says the organization has withdrawn a predevelopment application before the city of Spokane for a 6-acre, three-hole golf course exclusively for youth near conservation land that’s been the subject of recent public scrutiny.

Kelsey Parker, the golf foundation executive, says the city’s parks and recreation department was scheduled to review the application with the hopes of completing the course this year.

The idea of building a short youth-only course in Spokane began not long after organizers established The First Tee chapter in Spokane seven years ago.

The withdrawn application called for a $300,000 course to be built north of The Creek at Qualchan, located at 301 E. Meadowlane Road in southwest Spokane. 

“It’s something that we’d like to revisit in the future, but we, and the parks department, recognize that now is not the time to pursue this project,” Parker says.

Land adjacent to the site where the course is to be developed recently has become a source of public controversy. On April 10 and 11, a local contractor built an access road and removed trees on city parks conservation land along the bluff below High Drive and north along the bank of Latah Creek, says city parks and recreation department spokeswoman Fianna Dickson.

“There was an apparent misunderstanding regarding the authorization of construction of the access road and tree removal,” Dickson says in a press release. “The city did not receive or authorize a permit request for this work, which would involve property designated as conservation land.”

Dickson says the city issued only a tree removal permit to The First Tee chapter for the golf course.

“The agreement does not contemplate a building of the road along the bluff or tree removal on the road. The road was done outside the scope of the potential agreement,” the press release says.

Avista Corp., of Spokane, reached a verbal agreement with The First Tee to share the cost of developing an access road that both parties could use. Avista anticipates needing access to its utility corridor along the bluff property through an easement to replace power poles in the fall, the release says.

Funding for the new course has been provided through private donations. The First Tee also secured two anonymous grants that were going to go toward building the course. 

Future private donations would have been used to cover the cost of annual maintenance and operation, a responsibility that would have fallen to the city’s parks and recreation department, says Steve Prugh, a retired local golf pro and board member of The First Tee chapter.

Parker says The First Tee chapter here has an average annual budget of $250,000. 

“From the start of the establishment of the local chapter of The First Tee, the community has given it great support,” says Prugh, who was Manito Country Club’s golf professional for more than 30 years before retiring. “This would be a kids-only facility.”

The First Tee’s national headquarters are based in St. Augustine, Fla. The national nonprofit was established in 1997 with the goal of exposing low-income youth to golf, and also using aspects of the game to help those between ages seven and 17 develop skills such as focus and concentration and transfer them to other areas of their lives, including work and school.

The First Tee chapter here, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is located in a small suite in the Grand Office Park complex at 1403 S. Grand Boulevard. The nonprofit has two full-time staff members and a part-time employee.

“We try to teach students skills that correlate to school, home, and life in general,” Parker says. “For example, goal setting, respect, responsibility, courtesy, integrity, and honesty.”

First Tee uses etiquette commonly used in golf to teach the kids such skills.

The organization runs eight-week sessions in the spring and summer, and a six-week session in the fall. The kids play once a week, and the cost is $10 per session.

“But we’ll never turn away a child with an inability to pay,” Parker says, adding that more than 500 youths participated in the program last year. “It’s more than just playing golf. It’s using golf as a tool to develop lifelong skills.”

The First Tee has partnered with links operators at Qualchan, Esmeralda Golf Course in northeast Spokane, the Deer Park Golf Club, and the Highlands Golf Course in Post Falls, she says.