Turning Trash into Treasures: E.V. Communities Convert Landfills to Municipal Facilities

By Sarah J. Boggan, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Feb. 19–Gilbert’s Rodeo Park, Queen Creek’s future equestrian center, Tempe’s under-construction arts center and a future recreation area in Chandler have one thing in common: All are on top of trash.

These East Valley cities and towns are giving old, full landfills new life with parks, open space and economic development opportunities that city officials say are critical as commercial and residential development continues to boom and land becomes scarcer.

Officials say it’s especially difficult to find large tracts of land for parks so Queen Creek and Chandler are planning parks on closed landfills, and in Tempe, a series of landfills will be home to a large commercial development and an arts center.

Still in the planning stages, Chandler will construct a $12 million park on 66 acres. The park, dubbed the Paseo Vista Recreational Area, will be at the northwest corner of Ocotillo and McQueen roads.

“We’re being careful in calling it a park because it’s not going to be typical due to the fact that we’re building it on a reclaimed landfill,” said Mickey Ohland, Chandler’s park planning superintendent. “We do have some restrictions.”

Amenities at the park could include an archery range, disc golf course, playgrounds and a dog park.

“With all of the residential and commercial development, it’s very difficult to find large pieces of land for parks,” Ohland said. It’s all been spoken for. This is definitely important for us to take advantage of.”

Queen Creek is planning the Horseshoe Park and Equestrian Centre, in part over a 128-acre landfill at Riggs and Hawes roads.

The landfill, which will close May 31, is owned by Maricopa County and operated by Allied Waste. It will be capped and closed by Queen Creek.

“Our use of the landfill is not exclusively an economic one,” interim Town Manager John Kross said. “While we would like to see a return on our cost at some point in time, this is largely open space for parks and the community.”

Kross said one of the benefits is being able to build a “tremendous amenity at an extremely low cost.” He said as development has grown around the landfill it’s convenient for residents and could be a “catalyst for other kinds of development the community might want.”

The $13.8 million park will include trails, arenas and barns for horse shows and events. A completion date for the park has not been determined.

Gilbert is an example of what can be done to repurpose landfills.

The town’s former landfill, on Val Vista Drive near Warner Road, is now Rodeo Park, an equestrian venue used for horse shows, competitions and events.

“Land, especially in Gilbert, for parks and recreation is pretty valuable,” said Gilbert spokesman Greg Svelund. “All of our land uses are set aside. It’s not possible to find that much open space in a town that is adding more than 1,000 people every month.”

Svelund said the landfill closed in 1982, and Rodeo Park wouldn’t have been possible without the reuse of landfill property.

“As people drive by it so many people never knew it was a landfill — they don’t know the history of it,” he said.

To build over a landfill, a cap or topping must be placed over the trash to prevent water from seeping in, said Diane Strassmaier, with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The cap, usually made from dirt and other aggregate, also distributes weight evenly across the top of the area and prevents people from coming into contact with the trash, she said.

Recycled landfills are regulated by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Regulations include a 30-year period of monitoring for groundwater quality and air quality after a landfill is closed, said Cortland Coleman, a spokesman for ADEQ. During that time the landfill cap is inspected as well.

“A restrictive covenant is also placed on property,” Coleman said. “That restricts future use of a site so it’s not used for residential development and declares that it was used as a landfill.”

Unlike other East Valley cities, Tempe is building on top of its landfills, something permissible due to when the landfills were closed, Coleman said.

“Tempe’s landfill was closed prior to the late 1990s, and during the late 1990s more restrictive rules were put in federal legislation,” Coleman said.

The Tempe Center for the Arts, under construction at the southwest corner of Tempe Town Lake at Hardy Drive and Rio Salado Parkway, is on reclaimed landfill land.

City officials anticipate moving in sometime this summer, with performances beginning in September.

“We brought back some very valuable land,” said Tom Canasi, Tempe’s community services manager. “We need to get the most use we can out of the land we have.”

Also in Tempe, Vestar Development Co. is building the shiny new $270 million Tempe Marketplace on the city’s old trash — a series of landfills closed in the 1970s and ’80s. The 110-acre open-air shopping center is nearly 75 percent complete and is at the southwest corner of Loop 101 and Loop 202.

Neil Calfee, Tempe’s deputy community development manager, said the developer used “deep dynamic compaction” with cranes dropping weights onto the old refuse to pound it down, making a buildable pad.

“You look at Tempe and we’re 40 square miles, landlocked,” Calfee said. “We can’t just skip over land with issues. It’s critical for us to be able to reclaim the property.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

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