$450,000 Allotted to Cap Methane at Sports Complex

The Glendale City Council this week appropriated $450,000 for preliminary work on a project to control potentially explosive emissions of methane at the Scholl Canyon Golf and Tennis Complex.

The funds will be used for consulting services for engineering, design and development of specifications for repairing the complex, which has been closed since Sept. 29 after tests found gas leaking from the inactive landfill under the site.

The consultants, Mandeville & Associates of Pasadena, recommended in an October report that the city install a new gas-collection system that will cost between $2.3 million and $5 million.

The estimate does not include the cost of repairing the golf course, whose fairways are riddled with fissures and have been burned by the escaping gas. Officials have not determined whether the golf course will be repaired, and no estimate of the cost has been made.

A gas-collection and recovery system made up of 28 wells and more than 10,500 feet of pipeline was installed in the landfill in 1983. But the waste material--more than 245 feet deep in some areas--has been gradually settling, causing pipes to rupture and clog.

The city has asked Mandeville to oversee the reconstruction project and to conduct daily tests at the site required by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Money for repairs at Scholl Canyon has been set aside for years.