City might bring golf to landfill

Alicia Robinson

Residents could find themselves golfing on garbage if the city moves

forward with plans to create a golf course on the Coyote Canyon

Landfill.

Development at the landfill could be one result of a city

initiative to explore increased control over facilities within its

boundaries including the landfill, John Wayne Airport, the harbor

patrol and tidelands in the Upper Newport Bay. City council will vote

Tuesday on whether to form a “sphere issues committee” that would

address those topics.

“I think everybody who has been involved with the landfill ...

have all had it in their minds that someday the landfill will be a

golf course,” Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said. “It’s a question

of who would step up to the plate and construct it and actually

manage it.”

The 325-acre Coyote Canyon Landfill was operated from 1963 to 1990

by Orange County on property leased from the Irvine Co., which still

owns the 859-acre site, said Linda Hagthrop, spokeswoman for the

Orange County Integrated Waste Management Department.

The county officially closed the landfill in 1995 but is

responsible for ongoing maintenance of the cover over the landfill

and monitoring to prevent groundwater pollution and erosion, she

said.

In addition to the possibility of development, the city is

interested in the landfill because of the methane gas it produces.

The Irvine Co. now contracts with Gas Recovery Systems to collect

the methane gas produced by the landfill and convert it to

electricity, Irvine Co. spokeswoman Jennifer Hieger said. The Irvine

Co. is paid royalties for the gas, but the company does not disclose

such financial information, she said.

The landfill’s methane output varies, but it is licensed to

produce up to 20 megawatts of electricity per day, enough to power

20,000 homes, Hieger said.

The county spends about $456,000 a year on maintenance of the

landfill cover and monitoring the site, and it does not collect any

revenue from the methane produced by the landfill, Hagthrop said.

Who will own the landfill property and make money from its methane

production in the future is hazy at this point.

The Irvine Co. approached the county earlier this year about

transferring ownership of the landfill property to the county,

Hagthrop said.

“[But] they’re just in the very preliminary stages of those

discussions,” she said.

The city would like to get in on the deal and take ownership of

the land itself, Kiff said.

“Potentially, we would step into the shoes of the Irvine Co. and

get some of the methane gas revenue,” Kiff said.

While the city has expressed an interest, Hieger said, the Irvine

Co. is not in talks with the county.

“We, in fact, are not in negotiations to transfer the landfill to

the county,” she said.

If the city obtains the land, it would like to operate an

affordable public golf course, Kiff said.

“A golf course this close to the ocean and that spectacular of a

site potentially could make a good chunk of revenue,” Kiff said.

Residents would likely support the plan if traffic and parking

issues are addressed, he said.

“I think it would be a good use of the space,” Newport Coast

Advisory Committee member Gerry Ross said. “The place is so unsightly

right now that it looks like you’re passing a dump on your way to

Newport Coast, which is a beautiful community. Anything would be an

improvement.”

The committee was considering building a community center on the

landfill property, but the time involved in transferring the land

from the Irvine Co. to the county made that site impractical, Ross

said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She can be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.