Trump “Fires”
Plan for New Golf Course Over Community Pesticide Concerns
(Beyond Pesticides, March 26, 2004) According
to the Associated Press, Donald Trump has shelved plans to
build the Seven Springs golf course in Westchester county, NY, just
outside of New York City, after concerns of drinking water contamination
were raised by nearby residents. Local communities had expressed their
feelings about the proposed golf course, which would have abutted Byram
Lake, a reservoir for drinking water.
Mr. Trump told a local TV news station that he changed the plans because people in the nearby town of Mount Kisco didn't want a golf course. Residents were concerned with the original plan because they feared that the drinking water would become contaminated by fertilizers and pesticides used at the golf course. Instead, the land will be used to build 17 luxury houses.
Michael Gerrard, Mount Kisco’s attorney, embraced the housing proposal, saying it was the lowest-impact project that could reasonably be expected at Seven Springs. It wouldn't require putting down nearly the amount of fertilizers and pesticides or cutting down as many trees as the golf course would, he said. “We regard this as a very positive development,” Mr. Gerrard said. “We've come to the conclusion that a low-density development of this sort is much safer for Byram Lake than the golf course.”
According to the Journal News, the former plan for the golf course would have used a "linear adsorption system" — trenches around manicured parts of the course that would channel chemicals to carbon chambers that would remove the pesticides. But residents questioned whether that would work. Hundreds turned out to a state Department of Environmental Conservation hearing in 2001 and passed out little bottles of water with labels bearing a skull and crossbones and the words "Mount Kisco Water."
Seven Springs would have been Trump's second golf course in Westchester. In 2002, he opened Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor.