The shuttered Cape Coral (Fla.) Golf Club, on which DR Horton has proposed a housing development, contains arsenic in the soil, ponds and groundwater, and officials are debating how it got there. In Seminole County, Fla., the shuttered Rolling Hills Golf Course also shows arsenic contamination, and officials are trying to determine whether it’s bad enough to prevent turning it into a green space.
State records show the Cape Coral (Fla.) Golf Club contains arsenic in the soil, ponds, and groundwater. Now, there’s controversy over how the arsenic got there, the Fort Myers, Fla., NBC2 reported.
The golf course is the center of a heated debate regarding a DR Horton proposal to build a housing development in that area. Alan Jones is a neighbor to the golf course and says he isn’t surprised arsenic is on the golf course. He’s one of many residents fighting the DR Horton development. The city council likely votes on the rezoning the property for the development in August, NBC2 reported.
“We’d like it to remain open space,” Jones said.
Despite the arsenic levels on site, DR Horton SWFL Division President Jonathan Pentecost said the company “remains interested in purchasing and developing the former Golf Club of Cape Coral property.”
DR Horton hired a company called Tetra Tech to survey the property before purchasing it. In letters to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tetra Tech employees noted they discovered the arsenic during tests in July 2016, NBC2 reported.
The tests found arsenic levels above the target cleanup level in both the groundwater and soil in numerous locations across the golf course. Arsenic levels in the groundwater tested highest by the maintenance facility and pump room, NBC2 reported.
“Groundwater there was reported at levels approximately 10 times above the target levels,” Hydrogeologist John Randall said. “Across the rest of the course, it was roughly half of that.”
Even if the arsenic is on other properties, Randall said, the levels are relatively low and harmless to humans and animals. “There are some elevated levels, but nothing I would really be concerned about, but things should be looked into further,” Randall said.
More assessments of the site are needed after a disagreement between DEP and Tetra Tech about the origin of the arsenic. After setting up monitoring wells and taking samples across the golf course, Tetra Tech concluded the arsenic was naturally occurring, NBC2 reported.
The analysis from Tetra Tech said, “The presence of arsenic in groundwater is not a result of historical operations at the CCGC, but a reflection of natural variations of arsenic concentrations in groundwater.”
But DEP refuted that conclusion noting Tetra Tech did not follow the standard methods set by the DEP for gathering data and their results are inconclusive. “Sufficient evidence has not been provided to demonstrate contaminant concentrations were not the result of historical operations at the CCGC,” the DEP letter said.
Randall and Jones both suspect the arsenic could come from old operations on the golf course. “We’ve got a golf course which would historically have used products that contained arsenic,” Randall said.
DR Horton’s Pentecost said in a statement: “If approved, D.R. Horton plans to conduct a thorough assessment and any remediation, if necessary, would be performed at D.R. Horton’s expense.”
Councilman Richard Leon represents the area and supports the development as long as it still contains green space. He trusts DR Horton to clean up the property if the rezoning happens, NBC2 reported.
“We’d make sure there’s high-level testing for arsenic in this area,” Leon said.
Seminole County’s plans to buy the old Rolling Hills Golf Course and turn it into a public park have hit a rough patch after an environmental report shows several of the old fairways and greens are contaminated with arsenic and other chemicals, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Now county officials are trying to determine whether the contamination is bad enough to prevent turning the 98 acres into an expansive green space where residents could hike on nature trails, spread a blanket on the grass for a picnic or simply toss a ball back and forth, the Sentinel reported.
Officials also are looking at who should pay for any cleanup of chemicals commonly used in fertilizers and pesticides, which they estimate could run as high as $1.5 million, the Sentinel reported.
“I for one feel that the owner is responsible for cleaning up whatever is on that property and not the county and the taxpayers of Seminole County,” Commissioner Lee Constantine said.
According to the recent study commissioned by Seminole in advance of finalizing purchase of the property north of the Altamonte Mall, 17 individual spots on the shuttered golf course have been flagged for “above allowable” limits of arsenic, the Sentinel reported.
The study also showed high levels of dieldrin, a now-banned insecticide that was routinely used on golf courses and vegetable farms, near the golf course’s maintenance building off North Street and Blackwood Avenue. That area has since been fenced off, the Sentinel reported.
County officials are working with state environmental officials to find a remediation plan for the property, the Sentinel reported.
“We’re not talking about acres and acres of contamination,” said Rick Durr, division manager for Seminole’s greenways and natural lands division. “But we wouldn’t want the public to have any kind of exposure. So we’re looking at what’s the appropriate solution for these spots. … What needs to be cleaned up, and how much of it there is. And we don’t want to do anything on the cheap.”
A likely plan could include designing the park in a way that the contaminated areas would be inaccessible to the public, county officials said. Seminole is scheduled to close on the property August 22. Representatives for the Rolling Hills Reserve LLC, the property owners, did not respond to the Sentinel’s requests for comment.
“I am cautiously optimistic that everything will work out in a way that we’ll be able to accomplish what we set out to accomplish initially with this project,” County Manager Nicole Guillet said.
Rolling Hills closed in 2014 after falling victim to a declining interest in the game. The land was soon sold for $1.5 million to a group of investors. But when the new owners presented plans to build homes on the property, hundreds of nearby residents rallied county commissioners to buy the course and preserve it as green space. In October, county commissioners agreed to purchase the property for just shy of $4 million and turn it into a park, the Sentinel reported.
“At this particular stage, what we’re talking about is what is the remediation and at what particular point do we make a decision concerning whether we go forward or not based upon whether the owner is going to participate or not participate,” commission Chairman John Horan said at a recent county meeting. “I think if we decided to walk on the transaction, the owner is stuck with a piece of property that has to be remediated.”
Preliminary plans by Seminole show the old course turned into an area with nature trails, picnic pavilions and bike paths dotted with information kiosks, the Sentinel reported.
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