The 130-acre parcel is, collectively, two former garbage dumps that have been closed for decades. It's located south of South Boulevard Road, east of Dequindre Road, right next to Troy Beaumont Hospital.
One of the trash sites was owned by the city, and is known as the Troy Dump, and the other was privately owned by J. Fons Co. of Detroit, who owned many garbage sites in Oakland County in the 1950s and '60s.
Assistant City Manager Gary Shripka says the city has been waiting years to build a second city golf course. The Sylvan Glen Municipal Golf Course, on Rochester Road makes at least $250,000 a year with 50,000 golfers a year playing all 18 holes. The course also receives income from winter events and the clubhouse.
"We looked at a number of things to do with the site, and we decided the best way to remediate it and use it again is to turn it into recreation land. Golf courses are a popular way to maintain the cap needed to contain the waste, while also getting use out of the land," Shripka says.
Of course, the course won't have many trees. He said it's going to be aclear course, with a few bunkers. Developers plan to work in a large 80-foot mound of garbage into the vertical challenge of the course.
Only 35,000 to 40,000 rounds a year are expected once the course opens in the summer of 2003. However, city officials believe there is a need for up to 90,000 rounds per year, based on the surrounding population.
There are many courses in the Southeast Michigan area that are built onlandfills, including Red Oaks Golf Course in Madison Heights (now closed for work on a county drain) and courses in the Downriver area.The city is bonding for $12 million through its building authority to pay for the course, and hope to get repaid through the income from the facility.
Mayor Matt Pryor says the land was originally to be joined with a largecondominium development, but the city could not buy the necessary land to the south, owned by the Troy School District. The district conducted an environmental assessment on the land, and discovered wetlands, and decided not to sell.
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