By Adam Williams – Kamloops this Week

A zoning amendment bylaw has passed its third reading at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, moving the Quilchena course one step closer to reopening for play this season.

The bylaw will likely be back at TNRD for approval at the board’s next meeting today, at which point work can begin at the exclusive golf course outside of Merritt.

The rezoning will apply to the course’s bed-and-breakfast style cottages, which were originally zoned as residential buildings.

The TNRD determined they should have been zoned as commercial facilities.

Without the proper zoning, the club has been unable to rent out the facilities and has not opened for play in 2015.

Once the bylaw has been approved by TNRD, the club will be able to take out building permits for the work needed to bring the buildings into compliance with the commercial building code.

The three buildings, which will provide accommodation for 24 visitors, will allow golfers to visit the Quilchena course for overnight stays, opening a new market with which the club hopes to raise revenues.

Sagebrush president Bob Garnett said the extent of the work needed won’t be known until the rezoning has been approved.

Once the work on the facilities is underway, work will begin in earnest on the course, too. Garnett said the club has continued to maintain Sagebrush throughout its closure, in hopes of opening later this season.

“It will take three or four weeks to get it fully ready,” Garnett said. “But, it will take at least that long to get the rest of the work ready anyway.”

Sagebrush Golf and Sporting Club will likely open under a new ownership group. The current owners — Four for Fore Investments Ltd. — have been pursuing a sale.

Garnett said a sale agreement is close, but added the purchasers are waiting for the work to be finished and the rezoning to be approved by the TNRD before finalizing the transaction.

He declined to name the prospective owners.

Last September, Langley-based Newmark Group was expected to become the new owner of the course, but that deal never closed.

Four for Fore consists of the four original investors behind former PGA pro Richard Zokol’s idea of an exclusive golf club catering to the business elite.

Last year,  Zokol filed a lawsuit against course owners for what he alleged are unpaid design fees, while the ownership quartet filed a counter-suit regarding some of the $42 million it has spent on Sagebrush.

In court filings last year, Sagebrush said it was losing up to $125,000 per month.

Under the new leadership, a clubhouse will be added and other finishing touches addressed, changes Garnett said the current owners aren’t able to make.

“That has been our big issue,” Garnett said. “We haven’t had the clubhouse and been able to attract the broad group of people necessary to bring the course to the break-even point.”

The food-service facilities at the course will also need to be approved by the Interior Health Authority, though Garnett said the IHA has been on site and he doesn’t anticipate any major issues.