Golf Course Planned Atop Palos Verdes Landfill

As planners envision it, a proposed golf course in Rolling Hills Estates will have the usual hazards, such as bunkers and tall rough. But it will also have more than 10 miles of methane gas-collecting pipes.

Such are the demands of topping the long-closed Palos Verdes Landfill with a 110-acre golf course.

Operated from May 1957 through December 1980, the Palos Verdes Landfill rises more than 100 feet above surrounding properties and roadways. It is covered by as much as 12 feet of soil in certain areas, and the grass and trees growing there already give it the appearance of a golf course or park. The proposed 18-hole golf course is estimated to cost $12 million.

It would be the first county-owned course built in Los Angeles County since El Cariso in Sylmar in 1970. If approved, it also would be the first time the county has contracted with a private developer to both build and manage a public golf course on public land.

The sloping topography, and the need to siphon off methane gas from rotting garbage, present an exciting architectural challenge, says Steve Duron, golf operations administrator for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.

“Certainly building of golf courses on landfills has been done at a couple of places,” said Duron, referring to the county-owned 6,742-yard Victoria Golf Course on a landfill in Carson. “They have been and are great uses of that kind of land.”

For golfers, the course would be a welcome addition to the South Bay. At the county-owned Los Verdes Country Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, golfers line up from midnight to 3 a.m. to grab a coveted tee time. The new course would charge a weekend rate of $55, more expensive than the $36 at Los Verdes, but still cheaper than private courses in the area.

But approval of the project isn’t the equivalent of a tap-in putt.

One potential obstacle is Torrance, Rolling Hills Estates’ easterly neighbor, whose Country Hills neighborhood sits below the landfill. Residents worry that water runoff will trigger landslides.

Developer Rob Katherman, along with his partner Bart Christensen, were the only bidders to jump at the chance to build atop the landfill.

Katherman talks of the future golf course’s plans and designs with the giddiness of a child building sand castles at the beach.

“There’s clearly a huge demand,” Katherman said. “We were really full speed ahead from the moment we heard the landfill was available.”

With a similar speed came the landslides in Torrance in March.

Ground movement that started three years ago was pushed into full speed when winter rains poured down and the land slid, leaving 8-foot-deep caverns in some backyards. This sliding soil promptly filled up the yards of homes below.

A total of 24 homes in the Country Hills neighborhood, in the 3100 blocks of Carolwood Lane and Singingwood Drive, were declared by Torrance officials to be in a state of emergency, causing some residents to move out, said Jim Isomoto, Torrance building and safety director. Some homeowners still live there but can’t use their backyards or even certain rooms of the houses.

The source of the water that caused the slides is under investigation.

“Our concern is, where is the water going to go?” said Torrance Mayor Dee Hardison. Hardison promises that Torrance officials will monitor the plans for the golf course closely.

Bill Partridge, vice president of the Country Hills Homeowners Assn., says many of the group’s 300 members favor the golf course. It will provide open space and increase property values. But residents who experienced landslides are cautious.

“Their concern is that golf courses are water intensive, and could exacerbate the buildup of water in the hillside,” Partridge said.

Developer Katherman said the course’s design will control runoff and efficiently carry away the methane gas.

The pipes already installed to do this work range from the size of household plumbing to some almost as big as theme-park water slides. Most of the pipes sit above ground, collecting gas from the decomposing waste beneath and sending it to an on-site power plant that burns the gas to create energy.

The smaller pipes will be placed underground. The bigger pipes will be left at grade but covered by half-pipes and landscaping.

And water runoff will be dealt with “very carefully,” Katherman said, with no lakes or water features on the course.

The design will also include drains at the course’s sides and water sensors in the ground. For economic reasons, as well as safety, the course will not be watered more than it needs to be, Katherman said.

One problem that will exist, however, is settlement, as the trash underneath decomposes and the dirt on top of it sinks, although being closed 21 years does decrease the chances for drastic settlement.

“That will be an ongoing issue. There will be some settlement,” Duron said. “It will be much more subtle. At Victoria Golf Course we could have seen nearly a foot of settlement in any one year through the ‘80s and ‘90s.”

Even so, “the whole mountain is not going to come crashing down on Country Hills,” Katherman said.

Rolling Hills Estates officials favor the golf course but also worry about balancing the needs of the golf course with the area’s large equestrian community.

“There are a lot of golfers in the South Bay and in the peninsula that want it . . . turned into a golf course but not at the expense of the equestrian community. They are not going to trade golf balls for saddles,” said Rolling Hills Estates City Manager Douglas Prichard.

Seven acres of renovated stables and trails will be included in the golf course plans.

Developers have entered into a two-year agreement with the county. After developers submit their preliminary designs, they will begin an environmental study.

Public hearings would follow and eventually, after clearing a slew of environmental agencies, the plans would go before the county Board of Supervisors for final approval.