SAN ANTONIO -- Local leaders got their first look Wednesday at preliminary sketches of a luxury golf resort planned for north Bexar County.

They viewed plans for two world-class golf courses and a luxurious 1,000-room Marriott hotel.

The event also signaled what appears to be the end of a four-year bitter battle with activists and environmentalists.

"Well baby, we've come a long way," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said laughingly to a crowd of dignitaries gathered at the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel.

Golfing great Greg Norman, who helped design the courses, said environmental protections will satisfy those who opposed the project.

"We're going to cap the course with 20 inches of clay," he said. "No filtration of any surface water into the Aquifer."

Bob Combs, of PGA Tour, said the Cibolo Canyons will be "clearly one of the best in the country or in the world."

Construction of new homes in the development has already begun.

Groundbreaking for the development is scheduled for spring 2006 and is scheduled to open in early 2009.