The South Orange-Maplewood school district is taking its plans for a $4.5 millionartificial turf field back to the drawing board after the project was rejected by the local board of school estimate.
A resolution to approve the field failed to pass in March, with Maplewood Mayor Nancy Adams, Deputy Mayor Jermaine Cripe and South Orange Village Trustee Karen Hartshorn Hilton against the proposal. The project would have replaced three acres of natural grass at Columbia High School’s Ritzer Field with artificial turf.
When asked about their votes against the proposal, Adams and Hilton said they wanted the school district to consider a natural grass field instead. Cripe did not return requests for comment.
“Mostly, I would prefer to have natural turf by rebuilding the field and funding proper maintenance; unfortunately the numbers provided weren’t accurate in my view and proper consideration of this alternative to artificial turf was not seriously considered by the Board of Education,” said Adams, who was elected mayor in November.
“The initial project was a much smaller scope of artificial turf, this request for funding was for a much larger area that I think was not fiscally or environmentally responsible,” said Adams, referring to the district’s Long Range Facilities Plan, which originally called for two acres of artificial turf instead of three.
Artificial turf projects have become a lightning rod for controversy in school districts and municipalities throughout the state. Three years ago, resident in neighboring Maplewood rejected a $1.8 million bond ordinance for artificial turf at DeHart Park.
The Board of School Estimate is a separate entity that approves bonding sought by the South Orange-Maplewood school district. It includes three members of the South Orange Board of Trustees, three members of the Township Committee of Maplewood and two members of the school board. The Board of School Estimate needs majority support from members of the two town boards in order to pass a resolution.
The board voted 5-3 in favor of approving the turf field on March 18, but did not have a majority of the municipal members of the board vote for the project. So, it was rejected.
The vote came at the end of a nearly six hour meeting in which officials heard from parents, student athletes and concerned community members. Supporters of artificial turf argued the material could save taxpayers money, provide a more reliable playing surfaces for kids and address issues of alleged gender equity in the Columbia High School athletic department. Several parents and student athletes said boys athletic teams were given priority when it came to field access.
“One day we had practice and we arrived at Underhill Field only to discover there was nowhere to practice. Every field was occupied by boys either playing games or practicing and we had nowhere to go, so we had to cancel practice,” a freshman on the girls field hockey team said at the meeting.
The board of Cougar Soccer Club, which has more than 500 kids playing soccer in Maplewood and South Orange, released a statement saying its members were disappointed in the Board of School Estimate vote.
“The fields in Maplewood and South Orange are closed for five months of the year and cannot keep up with the strain of high school sports and continuously growing youth sports organizations when they are open. The children deserve better,” the nonprofit soccer club’s board said.
”The bottomline is that our fields are at best inadequate and at worst unsafe and inequitable. There is no reason a community as thoughtful and engaged as ours can’t work together to chart a reasonable path forward,” the statement said.
Opponents to artificial turf said the project had too many financial and environmental consequences.
Hilton, the only official from South Orange to vote against the project, said she appreciated the passion demonstrated by parents and student athletes.
“However, in light of the environmental problems, it is hard to imagine a scenario under which I would be in favor of a turf coating covering the majority of Ritzer Field,” Hilton told NJ Advance Media.
The Maplewood Environmental Advisory Committee also “investigated the artificial turf proposal and unanimously opposed it,” said chairman Bob McCoy.
The committee sent officials a letter in February sharing their concerns with the project’s impact on stormwater and wetland management, the introduction of large amount of plastics and harmful chemicals to the Maplewood environment, and other environmental and climate considerations.
“Many municipalities and school districts have faced similar challenges and found solutions that are cheaper, environmentally friendly, and healthier for our children,” the letter concluded.
Public health officials say there is no evidence of a direct connection between artificial turf and people getting cancer. But, some studies have looked at the potential environmental and health impacts of the chemicals in artificial turf.
A study published last March by the federal National Institutes of Health found synthetic artificial turf contained semi-volatile organic compounds and heavy metals that can leach into the environment, posing a potential risk to the ecosystem and human health.
But, turf companies and local officials who support synthetic fields say turf sports fields reduce water usage and maintenance costs, eliminate the need for dangerous pesticides and fertilizers, and increase play time for athletes.
South Orange Trustee Bobby Brown said he would support the plan for artificial turf “despite the challenges.”
“I would love to make sure that we dot the I’s and cross the T’s so I can get over those challenges,” said Brown during the March 18 Board of School Estimate meeting.
Brown, a former wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, added he’s “a little biased because of the world that I live in, but also, the world that was made available to me because somebody gave me the opportunity and challenged me to be a student athlete.”
Maplewood Committeeman Dean Dafis said that a vote in favor of artificial turf “for the purposes of equitable, reliable access to organized sports and physical activity” did not mean he was “insensitive to energy and climate resiliency.”
“We can do both. We can have both and we do. In Maplewood and South Orange, we are incredible champions of energy and climate resiliency,” said Dafis, who spent two years as mayor.
While the Board of School Estimate was not supportive of the artificial turf project, it did approve nearly $30 million in bonds to finish other improvement projects in the district’s middle and high school, according to meeting minutes.
The school board said it has not given up on making improvements to Ritzer Field.
“We are going to need to come back and figure out what it is we’re going to do to make sure that one way or another we are addressing the needs of our student athletes and developing a field surface of whatever composition that’s going to meet the needs of all of our students,” said school board member William Meyer during a March 21 meeting.
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Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.
