A “hellacious” amount of dirt (60,000 cubic yards) has piled up at the Tamarac, Fla. property, which sold 44 acres for development last year. And because it’s been determined that the soil is contaminated with chemicals, the city says it either needs to trucked off site or mixed with sufficiently clean soil before being reused. Woodmont’s owner, blaming setbacks from Hurricane Irma, says remediation is being completed “step by step.”
Golf course communities are known for their greens — but at Woodmont Country Club in Tamarac, Fla., it’s all about the dirt, the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun Sentinel reported.
There’s way too much of the dirt, the Sun Sentinel reported, and it’s contaminated.
Now the city of Tamarac is threatening to stop a plan to build 152 homes on the greens, the Sun Sentinel reported, because about 60,000 cubic yards of dirt is piled high on the site — next to the golf course and existing, well-landscaped houses.
C&RB reported in June 2017 on Woodmont’s sale of 44 acres to Pulte Homes for development of the homes on nine of the 18 holes of the property’s Pines course (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2017/06/homebuilder-buys-44-acres-woodmont-cc/).
The contaminated soil comes from years of treating golf course grass with chemicals, the Sun Sentinel reported, and it’s been piled in several mounds to make way for the home construction.
The city said the soil needs to either be trucked off site, or decontaminated by mixing it with clean soil to be scattered back on the residential lots, the golf course, or berms.
City Commissioner Debra Placko, who lives in the Woodmont community, calls the situation “horrendous,” the Sun Sentinel reported.
There is a “hellacious amount of dirt,” Placko said. “It absolutely needs to go away.”
The City Commission will decide this month whether to prohibit residential construction until it sees both improvements and a plan for how to get rid of the soil, the Sun Sentinel reported.
And the soil, the city added, is actually part of a bigger problem, the Sun Sentinel reported. Downed trees and debris still must be removed, and landscaping needs to be planted. A six-foot masonry wall along Southgate Boulevard should have also been built by now, the city said.
Woodmont owner Mark Schmidt blames the landscaping problem on setbacks from Hurricane Irma, the Sun Sentinel reported. Everything will be taken care of, Schmidt said, including the planting of hundreds of new trees in the spring. “We’re completing it step by step,” he said.
The issue of contamination often comes up when South Florida golf courses face development, the Sun Sentinel reported. The remnants of arsenic-containing herbicides, which years ago were used to control weeds at golf courses, typically must be removed for safety.
Last year, the cities of Tamarac and Boca Raton both set plans to test soil at golf courses they planned to upgrade and turn into golfing destinations, the Sun Sentinel reported. Tamarac bought the 262-acre Colony West Golf Course, saying last year it planned to apply for environmental permits to remove arsenic found there.
The history of Woodmont Country Club’s planned houses has been ongoing since 2006, the Sun Sentinel reported, when Schmidt’s initial plans were defeated after angry neighbors organized in opposition.
Under the latest plan, 152 homes are budgeted for the lots on part of the old Pines golf course, as well as 28,000 square feet of commercial space on 4.5 acres.
The 18-hole Cypress championship, one of the Woodmont courses, has remained intact, but nine of the 18 holes on the Pines course were reopened on December 1, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Still, the project could be modified. Schmidt said he is discussing plans with the city to replace other commercial space on the property with rows of townhouses, and city officials confirmed those plans are under consideration, the Sun Sentinel reported.
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