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.
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