THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A nine-hole golf course and practice facility will be the first project to be developed at the former Bedford landfill in Gahanna.

Tartan Golf Academy of Central Park will include a par-3 course, a driving range and a short "pitch and putt" course on 65 acres at the former landfill, which the city recently had capped. A clubhouse also is planned for the year-round facility on the city's west side.

The academy will be run by Tartan Management Co. of Dublin, which operates Tartan Fields Golf Club in Dublin and several other courses. Hurdzan Fry Golf Course Design of Columbus is the project's architect.

Tartan Golf Academy is expected to open next summer and will be part of Central Park of Gahanna, which the city hopes will become one of the biggest office centers in central Ohio.

"It's in the heart of our industrial area, and no one wanted to build around it," Gahanna Mayor Becky Stinchcomb said. "It would have been a win had we just been able to close a landfill properly. We're not only closing it but turning it into an amenity that has increased property values."

The city has worked for more than a decade to clean up the 190-acre Bedford site, where two landfills had operated. One was closed in 1978 and the other in 1995. Yet because of the former owner's financial problems, the property languished until recent years.

Former Franklin County Treasurer Richard Cordray agreed to have ownership of the landfill transferred to a community improvement corporation, which gave the county the flexibility to forgive back taxes. Claycraft Brick, which had operated on the site but went out of business, owed more than $245,000 in taxes.

The county's involvement paved the way for Gahanna to apply for state aid to cap Bedford. A big break came in 2005, when the Ohio Department of Development gave the city $3 million in a Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund grant.

That covered nearly half of the cost to seal the landfill, and more funding came from the city, Franklin County and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Gahanna has been working with local asset manager Value Recovery Partners, which specializes in redeveloping distressed properties.

Jamie Sisto, Value Recovery's president, said more than 200,000 cubic yards of clay was brought in to cap the landfill. The clay will form the base of the golf course.

In addition to the golf facility, infrastructure improvements will be made to the site. They include extending Science Boulevard northward to Taylor Road and building a new leg of Techcenter Drive through the property where it will connect with Science Boulevard.

The Ohio Department of Transportation plans in 2009 to extend Techcenter Drive eastward. That will connect Central Park with east Columbus and could promote the construction of a planned 1 million square feet of office space.

"Our philosophy has been 'We're building a campus setting for offices,' " Sisto said.

Because it's being built on the former landfill, the golf course will be devoid of trees. But it will provide views of Downtown Columbus and have a few holes running along a ravine formed by a tributary of Big Walnut Creek.

David Whelchel, senior architect with Hurdzan Fry, said the ravine was too steep to use in hole design. Yet despite its open layout, the academy could be a big draw because of the uniqueness of the design. The par-3 holes will range from 100 yards to 190 yards. The pitch-and-putt course, with holes of about 20 to 40 yards, is intended for practice or to introduce newcomers to the game.

"We call them alternative facilities, and we think there's a pretty good market for that," Whelchel said. "We're all getting pressed for time, and we want to play in an hour and a half. Or, you can hit a few balls at the practice range."