Lindsey Kelleher

Staff Writer, @LindseyKelleher

WOODLAND PARK — Members of a nonprofit group are fighting a disc golf course proposed for Rifle Camp Park, calling it potentially disruptive and unsafe.

The Passaic County Parks Department and the Friends of Passaic County Parks Inc. are planning a nine-hole disc golf course in the park. County officials and experts designing the course said the holes will be laid out so they won’t interfere with hiking trails or negatively affect the natural scenery.

But members of Friends of Garret say the course will damage the soil and vegetation and will pose safety risks to those not playing disc golf. They also fear the course will drive others, such as hikers and birdwatchers, out of the 225-acre county park.

“It’s going to change the whole park. It doesn’t belong there,” said Jeri Kratina, a member of Friends of Garret.

The county Parks Department and the nonprofit Friends of Passaic County Parks received a grant for $20,000 from the Horizon Foundation to install the course.

Experts said during an April 11 freeholders meeting that they are trying to put the course in storm-damaged areas. In all, about 100 trees will be removed, almost all less than 4 inches in diameter. The course will cover 14 to 18 acres.

Although county officials say the holes won’t intersect with trails, Friends of Garret secretary Vera Lazar said, “That might be true, but not everyone has perfect aim.”

Lazar and other members of Friends of Garret spoke during the the meeting, urging the freeholders to reconsider.

Disc golf is played by throwing a flying disc, similar to a Frisbee, at a disc pole "hole" — essentially a basket on a pole. A course typically has nine or 18 holes. The object of the game is to complete each hole with the fewest throws, starting from a tee area and finishing at the disc pole hole.

Enthusiasts say it gives people a chance to exercise and enjoy the outdoors.

"Disc golf is one of the best activities to get people active, mobile and, most importantly, outside and enjoying the wonderful parks," Shawn Holton said in a letter to the Passaic County Freeholder Board.

But critics, such as the Friends of Garret group, note the discs are made of hard plastic, which they say could seriously hurt someone.

The Friends of Garret group cited a California case in which a woman won a $3 million settlement from the city of Manhattan Beach after she was blinded in one eye by a flying disc. According to news accounts, the woman alleged that it was dangerous to have a disc golf course located where people who weren’t playing the game could get hit. The course was subsequently closed.

“We’re concerned about things like that here,” said Pete Both, a member of Friends of Garret, speaking at the freeholders meeting.

Kratina, in an interview, said, “There’s got to be another place to put it."

The Garfield resident said she has been going to Rifle Camp Park and nearby Garret Mountain Reservation for the past 20 years, and enjoys birdwatching. Like other members of the Friends group, she said she wouldn’t feel safe going to the park with a disc golf course there.

She also is concerned about damage to the ecosystem. "People will destroy the understory if they run through the forest.”

At their meeting, the freeholders told experts who answered questions about the course in response to the public comments that they wanted to learn more about disc golf before a course is installed. Freeholder Theodore Best suggested holding another presentation at an upcoming meeting.

Currently there is a disc golf course at Brown's Point in West Milford and another in Bergen County at Campgaw Reservation.