In 2021 the Nevada State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 356 (AB356) to help address drought conditions in Southern Nevada. Specifically, it mandated that federal, state, county, municipal, commercial, industrial, multifamily, and HOA common properties remove “non functional turf” (see HERE for a definition) in an effort to reduce water usage (you can read the bill in its entirety HERE). Included in that grouping are municipally and privately owned golf courses. The city currently has three golf courses. Boulder City Municipal Golf Course and Boulder Creek Golf Course are owned by the City. The third course, Cascata, is privately held. The bill, which did not receive significant pushback at the time, has proven to be a difficult concept for some to accept.
Water is allocated to Southern Nevada and managed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), a coalition of water users including the City of Boulder City. Water allocation budgets have continued to decrease as Nevada continues to deal with the effects of decades’ long drought and dwindling water levels in Lake Mead. For golf courses, that figure is four acre/feet annually per irrigated acre. Boulder City Municipal Golf Course is using almost 5.62 acre/feet of water annually. Faced with these facts, the city hired a consultant to develop plans to reduce non-functional (playable) turf at the Municipal Golf Course.
In an effort to inform the residents of the city about the project, the city and its consultant, Lage Design, held a series of meetings outlining the project. They were met with strong resistance from property owners along the golf course and some golfers themselves. The consultant revised the plan to incorporate some of the changes requested by citizens, landing on a 10′ removal area to be replaced with drought tolerant landscaping. You can review the approved plan below:
📸: Graphic courtesy of City of Boulder City
What does this mean for Boulder City? Each member agency of SNWA is responsible for gaining AB356 compliance within their own jurisdictions. That means the city will be responsible for paying any “fine” for noncompliance at Boulder City Municipal Golf Course. City staff included potential fines in their recent presentation to City Council if the new design does not meet the water budget. The city will know more within the first year or two if the turf removal, irrigation system improvements, along with adjusted maintenance practices, meet the allocated water budget. You can see the agenda packet documents HERE.
The city does not anticipate that any fines would be imposed, as the reduction in turf, along with upgrading the irrigation system at the golf course, along with other measures should achieve the desired effect. The full realization of savings probably won’t be known for a couple years down the road. Should the city come in over the water allocation budget, additional steps would be required in order to proceed. If the water budget is not met and fines are approved by the City Council, this could take the form of increased greens fees passed along to users of the golf course, but again, this is not anticipated.
Any fines paid and collected by the city have to be used for water conservation efforts, per the assembly bill stipulations. The city is currently modifying landscaping at local parks, Boulder City Municipal Cemetery, and adjacent to many city buildings throughout town. Recently, non-residential property owners received a letter from city staff reminding them of the SNWA turf reduction rebate, which is currently $5 per square foot for turf removed for residential properties. This amount will be reduced to $3 per square foot on January 1, 2025. For commercial properties, the current rate is $3 per square foot, reducing to $2 per square foot on January 1, 2025 More information about landscape rebates available from SNWA are HERE. Potential applicants are encouraged to apply before the December 31 deadline for the largest rebates. The work must be completed by December 31, 2025.
