Committee member outlines Highland Hills Park disc golf plan as neighbors and conservationists raise tree and wildlife concerns

A committee member at a recent meeting described plans to install a disc golf course at Highland Hills Park and said the design was laid out to avoid healthy tree canopy while removing dead trees and invasive honeysuckle.

“We’re cutting down dead trees and honeysuckle to get this in through there,” the committee member said, adding that a diagram shows breaks in the canopy where flight lines would run and that Joey Hood, a former tree commission member who works for Verdantis, helped develop the layout.

The presentation said some holes were moved into wooded areas to reduce conflicts with cars and constrained spaces around the baseball field and to better distribute park amenities. The project team has ordered disc baskets but has not yet installed tee pads or “tea boxes,” leaving room for design changes, the member said.

Several participants raised concerns about forest impacts. One attendee read results from a 2023 field study that concluded disc golf courses on slopes can degrade soil and vegetation and inflict severe, potentially irreversible tree damage after long operation. “The longer the disc golf course is operating, the more severe damage it inevitably endures,” the reader said, urging caution for a sloped site like Highland Hills.

In response, the committee member said the project team had exchanged correspondence with a local forest conservancy (referred to in the meeting as “Nan”) and that project designers had addressed some of those concerns in their layout. The member said planned disturbances would be limited—two or three pads would require work in the woods—and discussed lower-impact alternatives such as paver tee boxes to reduce soil disturbance.

Speakers also discussed related site changes: two pear trees at Shelter 2 were removed to install a new playground surface and improve handicap accessibility, and two maples identified as dead were noted for replacement with larger species. The group said its budget includes space to add an additional row of paved parking near the pickleball courts, but the exact number of added spaces was not specified.

Several participants urged a formal forest assessment before work proceeds, citing potential erosion, loss of understory plants and wildlife concerns including eastern box turtles. The committee member said they would circulate the conservancy’s list of concerns and follow up with designer Joey Hood for a more detailed discussion.

The meeting ended without a formal decision on the course; a motion to adjourn passed by voice vote. Members said minutes and submitted materials would be available online and that the topic could return for further review.