GLENDALE : Work Begins on Golf Course at Landfill

Construction began Tuesday for an 18-hole executive-length golf course at the problem-plagued Scholl Canyon Landfill where an earlier course was shut down because of explosive levels of leaking methane and constantly shifting greens.

The $3.6-million course, to be built by American Golf Corp. of Santa Monica, is expected to be completed in June. The landscaping will mature for several months before the course is opened to the public Nov. 1, 1994, city and construction officials said.

The course and driving range will be constructed on 56 acres of the 410-acre, city-owned landfill. It will be Glendale’s only municipal course.

The original nine-hole course at Scholl--called “Stinky Canyon” because of the constant odor of methane--was closed in 1989 when leaking gas, produced naturally by the decomposition of trash, reached potentially explosive levels.

No explosion ever occurred, and the leakage was halted after the city installed a new flexible pipe system to collect methane. The surface of the landfill has since been stabilized and layered with dirt.

The city in April granted a 40-year lease to American Golf, which, in addition to building the course, expects to pay the city at least $5.5 million in rent and concession fees over the life of the agreement.

American Golf is the largest municipal golf course operator in the country, with more than 150 public and private courses nationwide and several built on top of landfills, including Brookside in Pasadena and Mountain Gate Country Club in Brentwood.