Polk County News
14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 5, 2017
City approves adding
golf course to UGB
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Wyatt Button, LaCreole Middle School eighth-grader, will head to The Big Apple to sing in Carnegie Hall.
START SPREADIN’ THE NEWS
LaCreole’s Button heads to New York City to sing in Carnegie Hall
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Anna Jackson
couldn’t contain herself
when she found out LaCre-
ole Middle School eighth-
grader Wyatt Button had
been selected to perform in
the 2017 Middle School
Honors Choir at Carnegie
Hall this summer.
“I squealed a lot,” said
Jackson, LaCreole’s choir
teacher.
She nominated Wyatt for
the opportunity, saying he is
one of the most talented
singers she’s worked with.
The professional musi-
cians who select students for
the choir from the thou-
sands who are nominated
must have agreed.
She received notice that
he had been selected on
March 15 and had the privi-
lege of telling Wyatt he was
heading to New York.
“I was ecstatic. I was try-
ing to act not super sur-
prised, but it was hard to
contain all the excitement,”
Wyatt said. “I think it’s an
amazing opportunity that I
get.”
The Middle School Hon-
ors Performance Series in-
cludes choir, band and or-
chestra performances.
Junior finalists in the
three categories spend five
day in New York City, June
22-26, working with profes-
sional musicians, perform-
ing and touring the city.
Wyatt found out in May
that Jackson had nominated
him when he received a let-
ter in the mail about appli-
cation process.
He didn’t know much
about the Honors Perform-
ance Series, which has a
middle school, high school
and young adult program.
“I wasn’t like totally aware
of what it was, but one day I
got a thing in the mail that
said I was nominated,” he
said. “I was really excited
and I thought it was some-
thing cool that I thought I
could work to do.”
He had until October to
submit a recorded audition.
He and Jackson selected the
songs “Where is Love?” from
the musical “Oliver!” and
Leonard Cohen’s, “Hallelu-
jah.” They recorded the
songs in LaCreole’s choir
room.
“I was nervous and I
could hear it whenever I
would listen to my record-
ing,” Wyatt said. “At one
point, it just kind of clicked
to me that I don’t need to be
nervous; I could just sing.”
Wyatt discovered early he
enjoyed singing.
“I’ve always loved music
since I was really little. I
joined choir in sixth grade
and kept going, kept doing it
throughout middle school,”
Wyatt said. “I like that you
get to express yourself.
There are so many songs out
there, so there are ones you
can really, truly relate to.”
This will be Wyatt’s first
trip to New York.
“It’s an iconic place for
music and theater, so I’m re-
ally excited about just being
there,” he said. “I really
hope to make new friends,
and I’m excited to explore
New York and learn new
music.”
Wyatt wants to head back
to New York someday.
“I have dreams of being
on Broadway,” he said.
Before that can happen,
Wyatt will be busy raising
money for his trip this sum-
mer.
He plans to hold a garage
sale, bake sale and a movie
night fundraising to pay for
his excursion.
“It will take a lot, but it
will be worth it,” he said.
DALLAS — Dallas Golf
Club’s application to be in-
cluded in the city’s urban
growth boundary was ap-
proved by the Dallas City
Council without conditions
that an extension of the
Rickreall Creek Trail be in-
cluded.
The Polk County Board of
Commissioners, which also
must approve the applica-
tion, is scheduled to deliber-
ate on the matter on April 26.
Andrew Stamp, attorney
for Dallas Golf Club, said the
owners objected to the pro-
visions to build the trail
through the property based
on safety, cost and space
concerns. The proposal to
build the trail was first pro-
posed by Dallas Golf Club,
but the owners discovered it
wouldn’t be feasible without
putting trail users close to
playable areas of the golf
course.
David Brinker, agent of
the owner who has been as-
sociated with the club for 19
years, said inclusion in
urban growth boundary is
needed for the course to de-
velop the property to in-
clude a restaurant, a 20-
space RV Park and expand
the pro shop. Its current
conditional use permit with
Polk County doesn’t allow
for those improvements.
He said the changes are
needed to make the busi-
ness profitable.
“The only way to make
money at a golf course, is
when people quit playing
golf, for them to stay there
for a while,” Brinker said.
The application with the
trail included was approved
by planning commissions
for the city and the county.
A trail route had not been
determined, but course
owners said there are only
two options, neither of
which is safe without pre-
cautions such as netting.
Stamp said there isn’t room
on the south side of the
course, and neighboring
property owners in the
Ceres Gleann development
objected to a trail on the
north side, saying it would
be too close to their homes.
Ceres Gleann residents
packed the Dallas Civic
Center Monday night to
voice their concerns about
building a trail on the north
side of the course.
Councilors Kelly Gabliks
and Jackie Lawson asked
why the applicant included
the trail to the begin with.
Stamp admitted the
course owners should have
studied that provision of
their application sooner.
“We kind of backed into
that,” Stamp said. “We origi-
nally thought, a trail, that’s a
great idea. That’s great. Let’s
do it. It wasn’t until we were
able to start looking at the
mechanics of it that we real-
ized it was problematic. I
guess that is our fault. We
should have done a better
job from the get-go of realiz-
ing that.”
Stamp asked the city to
approve the application
without that requirement.
Brinker said the course
may consider closing if it
were not included in the
urban growth boundary.
“Most likely if this does
not pass and we could not
do improvements, we would
look very closely at closing,”
Brinker said.
Gabliks wanted to change
the last condition to give the
course more time to find a
viable trail route, and made
a motion to that effect.
Councilor Micky Garus
made a motion to amend-
ment Gabliks’ proposal to
strike the conditions requir-
ing a trail. That amendment
was approved.
The subsequent vote on
the amended motion
passed 6-2, with Gabliks and
Councilor Ken Woods Jr.
voting no.