Erosion uncovers garbage at Norfolk golf club

NORFOLK

Built atop an old city landfill, Lambert’s Point Golf Club has sprung an ugly leak.

Erosion fed by Hurricane Irene’s rain and wind has peeled away a shoreline section along Hole No. 7 and exposed a swath of 50-year-old garbage, some of which has spilled into the Elizabeth River.

Alerted to the problem last week, city officials have hired a consulting engineer, and they promise to repair the damage.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality says the city has little choice. Failure to correct such unsanitary conditions could lead to an “open dump” designation, requiring a mandatory fix and state enforcement.

The area in question consists of steep, grassy slopes that roll down to the Elizabeth at the far western edge of the golf course, near Old Dominion University. Students noticed the exposed trash weeks ago, with one paddling out to the site in a kayak and photographing it for the campus newspaper, the Mace & Crown.

City and golf course officials initially said the wastes were simply storm debris washed ashore by Irene in August. No cleanups were undertaken. But when shown the photographs, officials knew it was more serious.

“A portion of the embankment appears to show signs of erosion,” Pamela Marino, a spokeswoman for the city Public Works Department, said in a statement. “We anticipate the need for some immediate as well as some longer term repairs.”

The incident is reminiscent of scars that tore open years ago along the slopes of Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, also a former landfill. The city tried to patch the wounds for months before tearing up much of the park and installing a plastic liner to guard against future problems.

Norfolk invested more than $8 million to turn its old landfill off Powhatan Avenue into a public golf course, driving range and practice facility. Lambert’s Point Golf Club opened in 2005 after numerous delays and development and cost problems. It has won awards for urban design, its nearest neighbor being a sewage treatment plant.

During the lifetime of the landfill – it was closed in 1980 – it accepted all kinds of trash, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Because the landfill existed before permitting requirements, little is known about what is buried there, probably a mix of household trash, construction debris and industrial wastes, said Milt Johnston, a DEQ solid waste supervisor.

“It was an old city dump,” he said, noting the earliest state record of its existence dates to 1965.

In the 1970s, the state studied contaminated garbage juice, or leachate, that was tainting a nearby canal running into the Elizabeth River, Johnston said.
When closing the landfill in 1980, the city spread 2 feet of dirt on top as cover material – a common practice, Johnston said. In the early 1990s, before the golf course was built, slopes along the river split open, not unlike they did after Irene, exposing trash.

As a remedy, the city spread more dirt on the slopes, planted grass and placed rocks along the shoreline to guard against wave action, state and city officials said. At one point, Johnston said, the state planted trees on the landfill, hoping they would soak up soil contaminants. Instead, the trees died.

Marcus Cutrell, general manager and head pro at Lambert’s Point Golf Club, said the damage from Irene was the first time a storm has carved open a piece of the course. High water and waves from Irene, he added, also killed portions of greens on several holes along the river. Those, too, are being repaired.

“I know it’s unsightly,” said Cutrell, who works for Cypress Point Enterprises, a management company hired by the city to handle golf operations. “But we’re committed to getting it fixed.”

In recent days, Cutrell and others said, boaters have stopped to photograph the exposed garbage, an odd and colorful sight with plastic bags and other debris springing from the ground like surreal flowers.

Neighbors in the Larchmont community have complained about seeing trash washing in the river, including diapers and filth, and wondered what the source might be.

Now they know.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com