Links Owner Takes Swing At Tax Break Deer Park Developer Wants 148 Acres Included In Open Spaces Program

The owner of a golf course driving rapid development in Deer Park wants a tax break under a state law meant to preserve undeveloped land.

Spokane County commissioners will decide tonight whether to include 148 acres of the Deer Park Golf & Country Club in the open spaces program, which normally applies to farms and forests.

The move would save course owner W.R. Warren more than $2,000 a year, and probably would lead to classifying other golf courses as open spaces in Spokane County.

Many golf courses in Western Washington already get tax breaks. Pierce County includes six on its open spaces list, for instance, and King County includes eight.

The Deer Park course would be the first in Spokane County to benefit from the 1970 law. Owners of the county’s eight other private courses hope Warren’s request sets a precedent.

“What’s the difference between growing grass on a golf course and growing grass on a farm?” said Mike Senske, owner of the nine-hole Painted Hills Golf Course in the Valley. He plans to submit an “open space” application if Warren’s is approved.

The difference, said Patricia Barden, a member of the Deer Park City Council who opposes the tax break, is that farmers aren’t developing land while simultaneously seeking a tax break for preserving it. She called Warren’s request “charity.”

Warren noted that most businesses don’t have to compete against the government, which pays no taxes.

The March issue of Golf Digest praised the “rock-bottom” fees at Spokane’s public courses. Private courses have to match those prices to stay competitive, he said.

“As long as you have the city and county giving golf away, we can’t make money,” Warren said.

But he can make money on the land that’s suddenly more valuable as a result of the course. Warren plans to develop about 400 houses and condominiums around his course.

The golf course already has spurred other development in the town of 2,800, about 17 miles north of Spokane. A 100-home subdivision is planned near the course and new stores have popped up all over town.

One longtime resident told a reporter last year that the town is seeing its biggest boom since 1918. Many residents say the golf course made Deer Park more attractive to developers.

Warren, a former chain saw salesman from Western Washington, would save $2,172 a year, reducing his tax bill to $158 for the 148 acres. Warren’s total tax bill for the 241-acre course and its improvements is $22,251. Only undeveloped land can be included in the open spaces program.

Warren said that before he built the golf course, the land was enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers not to cultivate erodible soil.

“We took it out of the doles of getting something for nothing and invested $5 million into turning it into a beautiful park you can play golf on,” said Warren.

More than 11 million acres statewide are enrolled in the open spaces program, according to the state Department of Revenue. The owners are exempt from paying $47.3 million a year in property taxes.

Most of the land is either farms or timber. Under state law, “open spaces” also means land that is significant for recreational, historical or environmental reasons.

Applicants get bonus points if they can create jobs while preserving land.

“One of the things that gave Deer Park such an advantage was that it was providing an economic benefit in the north county area,” said county planner John Nunnery, who is recommending that commissioners approve Warren’s request.

Although they must work within the parameters of the state law, counties write their own criteria for deciding which land is included in the program and how much of a tax break each owner gets.

The final decision is made by county commissioners or - if the land is within a city - by three commissioners and three city council members.

In June, members of the Deer Park City Council voted 2-1 in favor of Warren’s request. Barden cast the dissenting vote.

“Just because this is being done on the coast doesn’t make it right,” said Barden. “If we’re going to stop it, we need to stop it now.”

Warren will get his tax break if two of the three county commissioners approve the proposal.

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