According to the original 1973 plans for Kings Contrivance, the neighborhood was to be called Macgill's Range, and was to include single family homes and a 35-acre 18-hole golf course that was to be built and operated by the Columbia Association. The HRD promoted the golf course as a future revenue source for the Columbia Association that would lessen reliance on property assessments, while critics of the plan charged that its purpose was to allow HRD to charge more for property in the neighborhood. In March 1974 the Columbia Association, which was then still dominated by the HRD, approved a budget that called for building the golf course. In July 1974, however, HRD announced that it was delaying development of Kings Contrivance and Macgill's Range indefinitely due to slow real estate sales caused by the 1973–75 recession.