By KATHY BRISTER
HARTWELL, Ga., Oct. 4, 2000 (The Atlanta Constitution) — Not long ago, this town was in trouble.
Hartwell, alongside a lake that bears its name on the Georgia-South Carolina line, was under pressure from environmental regulators to clean up its wastewater treatment plant.
In an area where land can be cheaper than equipment, a system that sprayed treated wastewater — cleaned to drinking-water standards — across 474 acres was an economical solution for the town.
Hartwell Mayor Joan Saliba tried to persuade local industries to make use of the water, but she didn't get any takers.
That is, until Lee Barton, head of the local telephone company and an avid golfer, got an idea. Where others saw sewage, Barton saw green. He approached the city with a plan to turn some of the land into a golf course and ultimately struck a deal.
As other golf courses became parched turf during this summer's drought, the grass kept growing at Barton's Cateechee Golf Club thanks to 1.75 million gallons of effluent water sprayed across the property every day.
Cateechee, last year named one of the best new public courses by Golf Digest magazine, is among 16 courses sanctioned by the environmental group the Audubon Society. It uses half the chemicals of standard golf courses. It features wild-growth areas in place of manicured fairways. The club catalogs wildlife living on its property. Some golfers have been surprised by wild turkeys roosting in their carts.
But Barton doesn't fit the profile of an environmentalist. He's a businessman. A clean, green golf course attracts tourists, particularly retirees, and they spend money, he says.
"This is economic-development driven. It builds business," says Barton.
Cateechee has a 50-year lease on the golf course. It doesn't pay property taxes on the land, and it doesn't plan to pay property taxes on the restaurant and small convention center to be constructed next year.
But Saliba disagrees with Barton's contention that any improvements made to the golf course belong to the city and, therefore, should be free from property taxes.
Saliba, 72 and in office for 21 years, says the golf course was a "great idea" that is helping the city reduce its wastewater costs and attract tourists. But she says Barton — who receives city funds to offset some golf course maintenance costs — is expecting too much.
She'd like the golf course to contribute more than sales taxes toward the $750,000 a year the city pays for its wastewater treatment system.
Barton, who contends his golf course plan was more efficient than the city's original land-use plan, says he's already saved the city $1.6 million.
He says it'll be at least six years before the golf course turns a profit.
Saliba, who plans further review on whether the town can make Cateechee fork over more tax dollars, says it never was her intention to "give the store away."
©Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
