A rendering of proposed development near Alvamar golf and country club.

Here’s the surest sign that word of proposed changes to the Alvamar golf courses is starting to make its way around town: I caught my insurance agent trying to steal my golf clubs. Yes, a big part of the proposed revamping of Alvamar is to add more homes along the course, and with my hook, slice and my proclivity to confuse the golf cart’s accelerator and brake, that can ruin even the most financially sound of insurance companies.

If you remember, Bliss Sports — the Thomas Fritzel-led group that also was the key private partner at Rock Chalk Park — has tentatively agreed to purchase the Alvamar Golf & Country club in west Lawrence. I recently chatted with Lawrence architect Paul Werner, who is serving as the designer for Bliss. Werner has met with club members and residents who live near the course. He said he is assuring them of two things:

“There are 36 holes of golf today and there will be 36 holes of golf tomorrow,” Werner said. “And if you live on the golf course today, you will live on the golf course tomorrow.”

Werner said the development group hasn’t had any serious discussions about eliminating nine or 18 holes of golf at the complex. Instead, the group has focused on moving some fairways and even a few greens to create larger areas around the course to accommodate more residential development.

Werner said he cannot yet put a number on how many new living units would be created around the course, but he’s telling people to expect a variety of housing types. Those included traditional single-family homes, patio homes, condos, and probably some apartments, as well. One area of the course is designated to accommodate several cabins that could house larger groups of overnight visitors to the course. (Just for the record, it takes me a long time to play a round of golf, but it has been very rare that I’ve had to spend the night to finish a round.)

In terms of more details about the proposed changes, see the photo above of a possible site layout that was shared at the members meeting. Here’s some additional details:

• The greens for No. 9 and No. 18 on the public side of the course are scheduled to move, and the group is still studying the possibility of moving the green for No. 17.

• Plans call for the fairways on holes No. 10 on both the public and private side of the courses to move, and the fairway for No. 1 on the public side also likely would be re-arranged.

• New homes would be added between the fairways of No. 1 and No. 9 on the public course, meaning that No. 1 would have homes on both sides of the fairway. New residential units also are planned for both sides of the portion of Crossgate Drive that runs north of the clubhouse area of the complex. Plans call for the No. 10 fairways on both the public and private side to be moved and the driving range to be narrowed to accommodate the housing. Werner said the group also is considering developing a new housing area near where the 17th green of the public side is today. Those homes would be on the north side of Quail Creek Drive, but Werner said that portion of the plan is less definite than the other proposed residential areas.

• The plans show about a dozen cabins or more would be built near the No. 9 green on the public side of the course. Such cabins have become popular at some golf clubs across the country, with Werner pointing to the Flint Hills National Golf Club near Wichita as an example.

• The public side clubhouse — the smaller structure with a pro shop, snack bar and deck that overlooks the practice putting green — would be torn down fairly early in the process, Werner said. In that general area, the group would build a banquet hall and a large pond that would help serve some of the irrigation needs of the course. (The pond is one of several called for on the plans, but I’ll have to get more details about those later.) The banquet hall could seat up to 800 people. Certainly the facility would be able to accommodate large weddings and other such social events. Whether it would try to accommodate conferences and small scale conventions remains to be seen. The project currently does not have a hotel proposed for anywhere on the site, but Werner told me the group is open to looking at that possibility in the future.

• Drawings show a large indoor/outdoor tennis center just south of the parking lot for Alvamar. It would be on the west side of Crossgate and would take advantage of some of the re-arranging of the holes and fairways. As envisioned, the facility would be a joint complex that would be shared by members and the Kansas University tennis team, Werner said. But he said the tennis center idea is still in the early stages of discussions with KU officials. KU currently owns an indoor/outdoor tennis center at 5200 Clinton Parkway in west Lawrence.

• Plans call for a new swimming pool to be built near where the cart barn facility is located today.

• Discussions with KU are underway to expand KU’s existing practice facility at Alvamar, Werner said.

Werner said he didn’t have a definitive timeline for the project to proceed, but said he expected work to begin at some point in 2015. Alvamar officials previously have said they expect the sale of the club to Bliss Sports to be finalized by April. Currently, the company is going through a due diligence period, which includes winning approvals for the proposed changes to the course.

Werner said Bliss has not yet submitted any plans to City Hall for the necessary land use approvals. He said the development group, however, has started talking with city planners to get a better understanding of what approvals will be needed.

Werner said the development group is not anticipating asking for a large incentives package from the city to move the project forward. He said the group may seek an exemption on paying sales taxes for construction materials, which is an exemption the city has given other projects by issuing industrial revenue bonds. Werner said more significant incentives such as tax increment financing or a transportation development district aren’t being considered at this time.

Werner said this development clearly will be a much more private development than the public-private partnership that was used to develop Rock Chalk Park. He said the driving force behind this development is to create more residential living around the course, which in turn should create more members for the country club.

“More residents out there will make it healthier,” Werner said.

He said there also is the possibility that the country club could become more an attraction for out-of-town visitors. He said the development group is in early discussions about creating a Kansas golf hall of fame that would be located at the club.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that the courses can be a great destination,” Werner said. “Maybe you have a group come in for a KU game, and they stay in one of the cabins for a few days longer to play some golf.

In other news and notes from around town:

• Back in June we reported that the hip Kansas City-based Mexican restaurant Port Fonda was seriously looking for a location in Lawrence. Well, those rumors have heated up again, and now the word on the street is that it may well be the tenant that takes the restaurant space in the new Marriott hotel that will open at Ninth and New Hampshire streets in early 2015.

I checked in with Jamie Davila, a co-owner of Port Fonda, and he said he didn’t yet have any announcements to make, but said he thought one would be forthcoming soon.

“We’re still very interested in Lawrence,” he said.

So, take the Marriott rumor for whatever you think it is worth, but it looks like something to keep an eye on.

For those of you not familiar with Port Fonda, it has become a favorite for some of the Westport crowd. Patrick Ryan, the other co-owner of the business, started in a food truck in Kansas City and then transitioned to a full-scale restaurant about two years ago.

• We reported last week that agents with the Kansas Department of Revenue locked the doors of Wheat State Pizza near 23rd and Louisiana due to about $42,000 in unpaid taxes. Well, the restaurant is back open. A spokeswoman with the Department of Revenue confirmed that Wheat State Pizza had reached “an acceptable payment option with the state” that allowed the restaurant to reopen on Friday.