11:17 AM PDT on Wednesday, June 15, 2005

By ELLEN LIANG / KING5.com

SEATTLE – Plastic turf opponents in north Seattle’s Loyal Heights neighborhood are trying to remain optimistic after a meeting Tuesday, in which the plan to replace natural grass in a community playfield seems like a done deal.

The meeting pitted natural grass advocates against athletic organizations and the Seattle Parks Department.

“In the end it was like, ‘Why bother, you can talk about turf all you want to, but we ain’t listening,'” said Jim Anderson, organizer of NoPlasticGrass.com, referring to the parks department.

“We’ll try to build some energy to get going for July 14,” he said, referring to the date when the Board of Park Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the project.

The parks board makes its recommendation July 28, after which parks superintendent Ken Bounds will make a final decision.

“We are still trying to get compromise ideas, but so far no one has shown interest,” he said. “The FieldTurf people feel like they don’t have to budge.”

Anderson thinks a good compromise would be putting FieldTurf in infield areas, or around baseball diamonds or soccer goals.

He also questioned where the money will come from in 10 years to replace the artificial turf.

The $2.3 million cost of installing the artificial turf is similar to maintaining grass over 10 to 15 years, which is the life expectancy of the FieldTurf, said Seattle Parks and Recreation spokesperson Dewey Potter.

There are 11 plastic grass playing fields in Seattle. For athletic activities it's essential in the winter because rain causes grass fields to be unusable from November to March. Plans are to convert at least 10 more fields over the next 20 years.

FieldTurf is the new generation of plastic grass, which Potter said is an improvement over AstroTurf. Critics of artificial turf say natural turf is usually softer and protects joints and muscles from damage, and that plastic grass causes rug burns when players fall on it.