Silver Mountain to add golf community

Silver Mountain Resort plans to transform part of the Bunker Hill Superfund site into an 18-hole golf course and residential community.

Eagle Crest Inc., the ski area’s parent company, received approval Tuesday night from the Kellogg City Council for a 565-acre development on the western edge of town. The land is located on a natural bench in the rolling hills above McKinley Avenue. It was once part of the Bunker Hill complex, a lead mining and smelting operation that employed 2,000 people.

The project will “reclaim this area that built the Silver Valley,” said Stephen Lane, Silver Mountain Resort’s spokesman.

Preliminary work has started on the golf course, which will be open to the public. “We’ll probably be golfing in 2009,” Lane said. Silver Mountain plans to begin selling home sites next year.

The 565 acres are approved for up to 900 condos and single-family dwellings, though “I doubt we’ll do that much,” Lane said. Market demand will determine how quickly the residential development occurs, he said.

The golf course is part of Silver Mountain’s plan to turn the ski resort into a four-season destination. John Thronson, Eagle Crest’s in-house golf architect, designed the par-70 course.

Rugged terrain and elevation changes will keep the play interesting for golfers, Thronson said in a statement.

“It’s a mountain course,” Lane said. “There are pockets of aspen hiding some beautiful elk and moose.”

The 565 acres ended up in the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s control after Bunker Hill’s owners filed for bankruptcy in the early 1990s. The land was transferred to the state of Idaho, which deeded it to Eagle Crest.

Building a golf course on the land will help control future erosion and runoff that could spread heavy metals, said Walter Hadley, Kellogg’s planning administrator. Eagle Crest will work with established pollution controls required for construction within the Superfund site, he said.