Residents of Westfield, Scotch Plains, Ridgewood and other communities are fighting plans to install artificial turf sports fields because of health, safety and environmental concerns.
On a hot summer morning, a dozen residents of Scotch Plains gathered under tall shade trees near a pavilion and picnic area in the largest preserved green space in their town — Brookside Park.
The showdown in Scotch Plains is one of several fights over artificial turf being waged across New Jersey as some residents raise concerns about the environmental, health and safety costs of ripping out natural grass and replacing it with artificial fields. And a similar fight is underway in Ridgewood in Bergen County, where residents are gathering names on a petition to block an artificial turf field from being built on a historic property where George Washington allegedly once stayed.
Artificial turf is marketed for its safety, playability, and appearance, but critics say the product hasn’t always lived up to the hype.
“My goal is to promote the industry by highlighting how synthetic turf improves communities, enhances homeowners’ backyards, and ultimately brings people together,” said Shaun Garrity, chairman of the Synthetic Turf Council and national sales manager at The Motz Group, a synthetic turf company. In Scotch Plains, the plan to replace the natural grass field at Brookside Park with artificial turf has raised questions about the cost of maintaining grass and the longterm impact of covering a sports field with plastic.
Worknesh Belay, who visits Brookside Park nearly every day with her 2-year-old daughter to play on the grass, said she doesn’t mind being among the taxpayers who pay for the additional maintenance costs if the field remains natural grass. Some state officials have also spoken out against artificial turf. Gov. Phil Murphy recently said “on the margin, you’d much rather have natural grass,” during an episode of“Turf fields are easier to maintain, they’re not muddy, but they’re not as good for our kids and they’re not as good for our environment, in fact, they’re bad for the environment,” Murphy said.
for open space. But, communities applying for state funds to construct artificial turf fields are “encouraged to conduct their own due diligence” and “address in their application the reasons for choosing synthetic over natural turf,” state officials said.New Jersey Work Environment Council “As a voluntary non-profit organization, the NJSIAA doesn’t have any involvement with school facilities,” the spokesman said.
The Schedler property is a unique parcel of land located between Route 17 and Saddle River Road that was believed to have been used by George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.
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