Wingfield Springs Handbook Amendment: A problem for Ward 4, Ward 2 and All of Sparks.

TL;DR: A proposal to convert part of the Red Hawk golf course into housing would permanently change open space in Wingfield Springs (Ward 4) by amending the community’s master plan. The added homes would increase traffic and strain infrastructure across Sparks - especially in Ward 2 - and those impacts can’t be reversed once the land is built on. Before making decisions with long-term consequences the City needs to slow down. Residents should participate in City Council meetings, public comment opportunities, and be vigilant.

Why the Wingfield Springs Proposal Matters to All of Sparks

Aerial photo of part of the Hills course, foreground, and the Lakes course, background, part of Red Hawk Golf Course and Resort.

Wingfield Nevada Group and Red Hawk Golf Course are proposing to convert the Lakes Course at Red Hawk into housing. It’s controversial - and under the current rules, it isn’t allowed.

So how does a project like this move forward?

By amending the Wingfield Springs Development Agreement Handbook. The Handbook, last amended in 2015, is effectively the master plan for Wingfield Springs. Changing it doesn’t just affect one parcel - it changes the rules for an entire community.

I’ve been involved in challenges to Development Agreement Handbook amendments before.

A few years ago, I helped my father and his neighbors push back against a proposal to amend a Handbook in Sparks to allow a commercial building to be constructed taller than originally permitted. That height restriction wasn’t arbitrary - residents were told when they bought their homes that commercial buildings would not be visible from their properties. It was a selling point, and part of what they paid for.

In the end, the developer and lobbyist won. The amendment passed, and the building was allowed to be constructed five feet taller than previously permitted.

On its face, that might seem minor. But it mattered deeply to the residents who lived there. And it revealed something important: developers and their lobbyists are experienced, well funded, and largely insulated from the consequences of the decisions they push for. The lobbyist advocating for that amendment didn’t even live in Sparks.

Regardless of the outcome, the lobbyist still got paid and the residents live with the results.

“But you’re running in Ward 2 - why do you care?”

Wingfield Springs is in Ward 4, but this issue affects all of Sparks by setting a precedent as well as affecting traffic, and infrastructure across the city.

Sparks has a Mayor elected by the entire city and five City Councilmembers elected by residents in their Wards (Districts). While Councilmembers often focus on issues within their own Wards, all five Councilmembers vote on items that may affect a single ward or the entire city.

So even though this proposal is geographically located in Ward 4, all five Councilmembers will ultimately vote on it.

Some decisions, once made, can’t realistically be reversed.

Allowing open space - especially a golf course - to be converted into housing can’t be undone. Once homes are built, that land is gone forever. Or is it? I’ll come back to this.

Why this matters to Ward 2

One of the most common concerns I hear from Ward 2 residents is traffic - especially on Pyramid Way, McCarran Boulevard, and Sparks Boulevard.

Ward 2 has roughly 21,000 to 22,000 residents, yet some of our roads already carry approximately 60,000 vehicles per day. That’s because Ward 2 is a major pass-through for people commuting between Spanish Springs, North Sparks, Reno, and I-80.

Even with planned improvements to Pyramid Way and the widening of Sparks Boulevard, we’re already near a breaking point.

Now consider what’s happening at the same time:

• More warehouses in Spanish Springs (Washoe County Commission)

• More housing in Spanish Springs (Washoe County Commission)

• And now a proposal for approximately 750 additional homes in Wingfield Springs (Sparks City Council)

Each project may be evaluated independently, but together they place additional strain on infrastructure that is already stressed.

Follow the incentives

I don’t live in Wingfield Springs, so I won’t pretend to speak for residents there on issues like views or property values - though those concerns are valid and deserve to be heard.

Instead, I want to focus on motive and incentive.

For the City of Sparks, the incentive is increased property tax revenue. New homes generate significantly more property tax than older homes. Roughly 35 percent of the City’s revenue comes from property taxes, and newer homes contribute substantially more per parcel than older homes, and certainly a golf course.

For the landowner, the incentive is obvious.

Based on nearby parcel listings and rough estimates, converting the golf course into residential parcels could generate tens of millions of dollars in gross land sales, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars if the price is right. My math could be off - it could be less, or it could be more - but the scale of the financial motivation is undeniable.

Who bears the cost?

Residents.

More roads to maintain and plow. More sewer, water, and utility demand. More long-term infrastructure obligations.

A significant portion of the new tax revenue will be consumed simply maintaining what gets built.

Short-term fixes, long-term consequences

Too often, Sparks feels like it’s being run with a short-term balance sheet mindset - focused on five, ten, or twenty-five year plans.

But cities don’t get reset.

The planning decisions we make today shape life decades from now. We can already see this in Sparks, Ward 2. The major widening of Pyramid and McCarran in the 2010s required the removal of close-to 70 homes because of planning decisions made 60 or 70 years earlier. Some families left voluntarily. Others didn’t. Eminent domain was used.

Those weren’t accidents. They were delayed consequences. These families paid dearly for decisions made decades, and decades, and decades ago.

This proposal concerning the Lakes course and Wingfield Springs may help address short-term revenue challenges, but it also creates permanent commitments and liabilities that future residents and future councils will have to manage and pay for.

Slow down. Pay attention. Participate.

My ask is simple.

Sparks needs to slow down and take a serious look at the long-term consequences of major development decisions - not just whether they help balance the budget today, but whether they create a sustainable city decades from now.

And for residents in Ward 2 and Ward 4: participate.

Don’t just post online on Facebook and NextDoor. Don’t be reliant on a Change.Org petition. Do all that and PLEASE attend a Sparks City Council meeting. Stay for the entire meeting. Learn how decisions are made. Speak in person. Actually make your voice part of the public record.

We may not win every battle, but public participation matters - and it’s one of the few tools residents have to shape the future of their city.

- Hunter