Golf course will finally get its water source

BROOKINGS — The city’s golf course will finally get its own source of water after the Brookings City Council approved a bid at their meeting on May 26.

The council unanimously approved a rebid on the project to supply water to Edgebrook Golf Course in

Brookings at a cost of $1.8 million.
The city has been working on a water source for the course for years.

Edgebrook is not connected to the town water supply and currently uses just the water collected on the course.

This has led to issues in the last few years, as use of the course has increased while the county has seen mostly drought conditions.

Parks and Recreation Director Kristin Zimmerman presented the item to the council, which voted 7-0 to approve the bid from LL and Sons Excavating.

The city had originally put aside $1.2 million for the project, roughly the amount an engineer’s study said it should cost.

But after putting the job up for bid, the City Council rejected all proposals back in December of 2025 when the lowest offer came in at more than $2.1 million.

The project was then streamlined and rebid. But with the final number still coming in around $600,000 higher than originally anticipated,

Edgebrook will have to put off some other costs until after the well is dug.

That means the cost of golf will go up in 2027 and several planned improvements, irrigation projects and the like will be put off by two or three years.

“While these are difficult decisions, stabilizing and securing a long-term irrigation and water source is foundational to the future operations and sustainability of the golf course,” Zimmerman told the council.

Council member Wayne Avery walked attendees through some of the long and tortured path the city had taken to eventually get to this point, saying it was the best option available.

“I know we’ve been working on this for quite some time, and explored many different sources of water — drilling wells, obtaining water from a nearby water source, or even not necessarily nearby. Every one of those reached some kind of a dead end or an impasse that we couldn’t pursue any longer,” Avery said. “It’s more expensive than we hoped, but we shouldn’t have to deal with it in the future. In a drought situation, our source of water is not going to dry up. And we don’t have to maintain the equipment once that’s done, it’ll be the responsibility of the BMU.”

After the vote, Mayor Ope Niemeyer asked how Edgebrook was doing early this summer, with the county in drought conditions.

“Let’s all hope for rain,” Zimmerman responded.

In other business the council:

— Heard a presentation on the long-term transportation plan and changes which would make the city eligible for federal safety grants. The plan would largely involve narrowing streets and adding additional bike, pedestrian or multi-use lanes — what engineers call “road diets.”
The council will act on the master plan at the next meeting.

— Took first action to expand the city dump to a large area north of the current location. While the current location is projected to to be viable until 2063, the city is planning now, as costs will only go up.

— Approved 10-year beer and wine licenses for the new Target set to open soon.

Linehan is the Beacon’s managing editor and welcomes story tips and comments at BrookingsBeacon@gmail.com