It’s time to move on from a proposal to put artificial turf at Nursery Field and consider safer and less controversial alternatives, like improving the drainage and management of the grass there.
The council is scheduled to take an up-or-down vote on the proposal on Wednesday, April 17, and should vote no.
There is a growing body of research about the presence of chemicals, microplastics, and other harmful substances in artificial turf that pose a threat not only to those playing on it but the greater environment, too. There is also strong evidence that artificial turf causes more sports injuries. NFL players are overwhelmingly against artificial turf, and FIFA won’t use it for soccer tournaments.
The focus of these and other health and environmental concerns is the presence of PFAS — so-called “forever chemicals” — that don’t break down. They accumulate in the body over time and are linked to serious health problems. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has set strict limits on PFAS in drinking water.
In November of last year, the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center recommended against installing artificial turf, citing “the uncertainties surrounding the safety of these products and the potential for dangerous heat and chemical exposures.”
Those experts are talking in general about the installation of artificial turf fields. The artificial turf field proposed for Nursery Field specifically would sit in a flood plain, next to a wetlands, and beside Blind Brook, which overflows constantly. Who needs those chemicals so close to our local waters?
No fewer than 10 local and regional authorities on the environment and historical preservation oppose the plan for artificial turf on Nursery Field.
And yet it’s still being considered by the City Council. Why?
Because a group of wealthy Rye residents has offered to pay for artificial turf, and that was good enough for a slim majority of former City Council members who are no longer in power. The donor group, “Let the Kids Play,” says they are confident artificial turf is safe, pointing to reports by consultants hired by those former City Council members that concluded artificial turf would not present environmental or flooding risks.
Those consultants, however, were hired after members of the former City Council already had concluded they wanted artificial turf, despite strong opposition in the community. Those consultants were hardly objective scientists — they were paid consultants, hired to get a proposal through the regulatory process.
The whole proposal has been deeply flawed from the start. The consultant originally brought in by the council to outline the pros and cons of artificial turf versus grass turned out to be an officer of the Synthetic Turf Council, the lobbying group that promotes the use of synthetic turf — a detail the former council somehow failed to mention.
The group of donors then proceeded to pressure the council and mount a public relations campaign, attacking anyone who dared to disagree. The name of their group – “Let the Kids Play” – suggests that anyone who is concerned about the environmental impact or safety of synthetic turf is preventing “the kids” from playing. The motto of turf opponents could just as easily be, “Let Our Kids Play Safely and Naturally.”
The group also has suggested that anyone opposed to artificial turf on Nursery Field who lives near the field should be discounted, dismissing them as selfish “NIMBY” opponents and saying they have some kind of conflict of interest. Of course, the exact opposite is true. Neighbors of the field should have a greater voice in the decision, not lesser. And the donor group has a problem with geography, seeming to suggest that anyone who lives in the Milton school district is a neighbor of Nursery Field.
But there are opponents of artificial turf all over town, and their primary concerns are health, safety, and the environment – and, yes, their kids.
The donor group and others have reason to advocate for more field space. And on that, they are preaching to the choir. The city is focused on that problem, and should start by improving the drainage and management of the grass at Nursery Field. More sports fields for Rye residents should be available across Post Road at Rye Country Day School in the next few years. And the City Council should continue to consider ways to improve sports field access across the city.
But they certainly shouldn’t do so in a way that is unhealthy and environmentally unsound, and should not be intimidated by those who dismiss those concerns or have other priorities.
