On Par With Nature : Developers Have Greener Plan for Golf Course

Developers rebuffed in past attempts to build an exclusive golf course in the environmentally sensitive Big Tujunga Wash have returned with a plan they say will please naturalists, neighbors and even golfers.

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A year ago, a tiny, endangered plant called the slender-horned spineflower poked holes in the plans of Cosmo World Corp., a Japanese development firm, to build a posh and private country club in the wash northeast of the Foothill Freeway.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers refused to issue permits on grounds that the project would alter lands managed for flood control, kill off the four-inch-tall spineflower and wreck more than 100 acres of alluvial fan sage scrub habitat.

Developers say the new plan is for a public course that will be much less harmful to native vegetation. In fact, duffers will have to play over--and sometimes, through--scrub, cactus and rock.

Plans are modeled on East Coast courses built under strict environmental guidelines set by the Audubon Society of New York State Inc.

“We will be removing some vegetation” during grading for the course, said Tom Buzbee, golf district manager for Kajima Engineering and Construction Inc., which is designing the course for Cosmo. “But we’ll harvest seeds from those very plants and put it all right back where it was,” he said.

And the spineflower?

“Undisturbed,” said Buzbee.

Sunland-Tujunga merchants and some residents who opposed previous proposals say the new plans sound good. They note that the project would create about 50 new jobs, beautify the view of Sunland from the freeway, and add amenities such as biking, hiking and horse trails.

But homeowners from nearby Shadow Hills and Lake View Terrace aren’t as excited. Rugged, open Big Tujunga Wash is horse turf, they say. They don’t relish the idea of sharing it with a bunch of birdies, bogies and eagles.

City planning officials are studying environmental reports submitted by Pasadena-based Kajima Engineering. Buzbee said the firm expects a response from the city in the next four to six weeks.

City planners could not be reached for comment on the plan.

Though detailed design plans have been drawn, developers stress that the proposal is a work in progress. And as plans move forward, all parties will have a chance to weigh in, said Buzbee, who met recently with members of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce.

“Every single concern I had about the last proposal, they seem to have addressed,” said Sylvia Gross, founder of the Sunland-Tujunga Residents Assn., which closely tracks environmental and land-use issues in the area. “Particularly the part about making it open to the public. If it’s going to be there, let’s have something everyone can take advantage of.”

The proposed course has 18 holes, but that’s about the only similarity to previous proposals, Buzbee said. Cosmo has been trying to build a golf course on its 352-acre property in the wash since the late 1980s.

Large-scale drainage improvements planned for the former project will not be necessary, and the course has been laid out so the portion of the site under control of the Corps of Engineers will remain undisturbed.

“We’re not going into U.S. waters at all,” Buzbee said. “We will not have to go to the Army Corps for permits this time.”

According to a document prepared by city planners, whose approval is required, the proposed course would encompass about 160 acres of the site, of which about 106 acres would be fairways, roughs, greens and lakes. Seven acres would be reserved for a 25,000-square-foot club house, a parking lot and maintenance facility. Forty-seven acres would be graded for golf course development but would be re-vegetated with native plants.

The remaining portion of the property--including about 38 acres overseen by the Army Corps--would not be developed and would remain as habitat for existing plant and animal life including the spineflower and the cactus wren.

Estimated to cost from $10 million to $12 million, the course follows the New York Audubon Society’s guidelines, which require developers to protect wildlife habitat and conserve water and energy. The society is not affiliated with the National Audubon Society. The golf course program is partly funded by professional golf associations.

Not everybody is buying into the idea of an environmentally friendly golf course.

“They might not be building in the flood path,” said Bill Eick, an attorney from Shadow Hills who has opposed development in the wash. “But flood areas and wetlands, they don’t always stay the same. They change over the course of time. I think any kind of development there is just not good.”

Other area resident groups were lukewarm to the idea.

“Our land-use and environmental people are against it,” said Sandy Hubbard, co-president of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn. But, she added: “Those who have seen the new plans say this proposal is better than the last. The feeling is, if we get stuck with it, we can live with it a little easier.”

If developers receive the needed approvals, the course design could be finished sometime next year and be ready for play by late 1997, Buzbee said.

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An Environmentally Friendlier Golf Course

Developers have reworked plans for a golf course in the Big Tujunga Wash in an effort to lessen its environmental impact and maintain native habitat. Using techniques implemented in other desert areas, the wash’s endangered slender-horned spineflower would not be destroyed. The course would accommodate the sage scrub habitat that dominates the environmentally sensitive landscape.

Building Around Native Habitat

1) Turf grass: Environmentally friendly courses generally use grass strains that require less water and are more tolerant of salts. There are grasses being developed to be insect- and fungus-resistant.

2) Rough: Native sage scrub plant species, cacti and rock would be maintained, reseeded or moved.

3) Water holes: placed next to rough areas would provide habitat corridors for wildlife.

Undisturbed Plant

Slender-horned spineflower

Dodecahema leptoceras

Height: Up to four inches

Habitat: Dry, sandy soil in alluvial scrubland

Growth period: April-June

The Project

* 1987: Developer Cosmo World purchased land in the flood plain of ecologically sensitive Big Tujunga Wash, intending to build a championship golf course.

* 1990: Cosmo World halted development in part because of controversy over removal of the endangered slender-horned spineflower.

* CURRENT PLANS: Course designers will comply with an Audubon Society of New York State Inc. program, funded by the USGA, which sets environmental guidelines for golf course design.

Sources: Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States, The Jepson Manual of Higher Plants of California, USGA