Golf course helps town turn garbage to gold
A consent decree was forcing Yarmouth, Mass., to close a 40-year-old municipal landfill that was threatening the city’s water supply. However, Yarmouth officials were determined not to let the 57-acre site, which abutted an 18-hole municipal golf course, go unused. A plan to develop a recreational complex, that would include expansion of the golf course, was born.
City officials contacted Cambridge, Mass.-based Camp Dresser & McKee to help them develop their reuse plan. They wanted something that would be aesthetically pleasing and generate revenue.
Ultimately, the city settled on a reuse plan that involved construction of a recreational complex. The complex would include soccer and softball fields, a children’s playground, boccie and basketball courts, horseshoe pits and a bikeway that extends existing regional paths. The star of the reuse project, however, would be the nine-hole, environmentally friendly expansion of the golf course.
A landfill closure project typically includes capping, passive methane gas collection and surface water controls. However, integrating reuse, such as a golf course, into the closure project requires officials to consider unique engineering applications, public safety, public opinion and regulators. The city encouraged early involvement from the public and the state Department of Environmental Protection on key issues such as risk assessment and water reuse. It also had to ensure that existing facilities were kept operational during construction.
The project proceeded with a design that integrated the landfill capping and its related infrastructure with the ultimate reuse as a golf course. In-ground irrigation and golf course landforms were balanced with increased cap depths, underdrains, stormwater swales and controls, the methane gas collection system and maintenance access. Finally, a health risk assessment was conducted to ensure that the former landfill would not imperil residents’ health.
The city also wanted to incorporate environmentally friendly construction techniques. Consequently, stormwater ponds that recycle rainwater serve as irrigation sources for two of the course holes. The ponds, which also serve as course hazards, recreate natural recharge conditions surrounding the landfill without changing groundwater flows.
Additionally, a reclaimed water system provides irrigation by reusing effluent from the adjacent Yarmouth-Dennis septage treatment plant. (The recreational complex also includes a community drop-off recycling center and composting facility.)
As part of the project, many aspects of the course were improved. The city expanded the clubhouse, improved the cart storage and maintenance facilities, more than doubled parking areas, installed new pathways and improved a bag drop area at the clubhouse.
Revenues from the course are expected to offset the project’s $7.5 million price tag. The state’s Revolving Fund provided a no-interest, $6 million loan to finance the landfill closure, and the city obtained the remainder of the funds through grants.