SANDY SPRINGS - When residents of Sandy Springs were looking for a recreation space in their community, they turned to a 120-acre pile of trash. <br>
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Several years and $5 million later, it's been converted into an 18-hole, executive-length golf course the first golf course on a landfill in Georgia. <br>
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The new scenery is a welcome change for residents, who had been complaining about the odors wafting from the landfill, and for environmental regulators, who were concerned about pollution of the nearby Chattahoochee River. <br>
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``It's beautiful; we love these vistas and views,'' said Dunwoody resident George Clowers, who had just popped a ball off the sixth tee on a recent sunny afternoon. <br>
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Eagle Golf Ventures, owned by former Coca-Cola marketing executive Kay Broaddus, built the golf course on top of the landfill, which had been full since 1988 and was costing $250,000 a year to maintain. Poor county groundskeeping was causing erosion and runoff. <br>
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Now Fulton County gets $40,000 a year from Eagle Golf Ventures, which has a 25-year lease. <br>
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But the biggest boon for taxpayers is the savings on upkeep. <br>
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``Without this greenery, we would have a continual problem with erosion,'' said county commissioner Bob Fulton, who helped Broaddus get the project approved. <br>
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Building over a landfill proved to be a design challenge for landscape architect Michael Riley, who had to work around a criss-cross of power lines above and gasoline pipelines and garbage below. He said he used land contours, bunkers and variations on grass texture to distract from the visual clutter. <br>
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``It's not Augusta National,'' Riley said. ``But it does what it was supposed to do.'' <br>
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The Georgia State Golf Association knows of no other golf courses built on landfills in the state, but more urban golfing is on the way. The Atlanta Housing Authority is working with a developer to transform a former housing project and garbage dump in northwest Atlanta into another golf course community. <br>
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Outside Georgia, golf courses on landfills are nothing new. <br>
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Bill Love, a golf course architect in College Park, Md., estimated there are currently about 50 around the country, some of which have been around for at least 15 years.
