A plastic turf war in Ballard

05:28 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 14, 2005

By ELLEN LIANG / KING5.com

SEATTLE – A plan to replace grass with plastic turf in a three-acre community playfield is pitting park authorities and ball players against neighbors who see not only the disappearance of nature but a small slice of history.

“In the 1930s, kids went door-to-door asking for donations to help build the park,” said resident Jim Anderson, whose house overlooks the field. “The neighborhood taxed itself to put it in; it’s been a mixed-use park for 70 years.”

Plastic grass playing fields are nothing new in Seattle; in fact there are at 11 so far. For athletic activities it's essential in the winter because rain causes grass fields to be unusable from November to March.

“Right now Loyal Heights sits vacant in winter and it turns into a mud field,” said Seattle Parks and Recreation spokesperson Dewey Potter.

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.

Jim Anderson

The field takes up four city blocks between Northwest 75th and 80th Streets, and 20th and 22nd Avenues in Seattle.

“Technology is getting better all the time,” Potter said. “Field turf comes from crumb rubber, recycled car tires…it’s little round balls with no sharp edges, the silica sand in drainage won’t get into lungs, studies show it’s as safe, if not safer, than grass.”

The parks department is faced with a huge demand for ballfields for kids but insufficient funding and little land left in city. The city makes anywhere from $4 to $40 an hour for use of playing fields, depending on whether youths or adults are playing. However, for youth sport camps it costs $25 an hour for grass or sand fields and $55 an hour for synthetic surfaces.

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, Potter said.

Opponents of the FieldTurf have put up signs around the field.

Battle on the Web

Anderson and other opponents of the FieldTurf have created a Web site called NoPlasticGrass, which reads:

“With the exception of downtown, no neighborhood in Seattle has a smaller percentage of open space than Ballard! With only 144 acres of open space (only 4% of total acreage, compared to city-wide average of 10%), ripping up three acres of grass at Loyal Heights Playfield and slapping down vinyl hardly embraces the city's goal of maintaining green and open spaces for families.”

The Ballard Youth Soccer Club is one group that’s actively campaigning for the FieldTurf, saying that parents are tired of driving their children to far-off fields to practice and play soccer. On its Web site it encourages supporters of the project to write to the parks superintendent. It reads in part:

“Please do not let a small, vocal minority convince you to change the Parks department’s plans for a synthetic field at this site. There is a serious field shortage in Seattle, and this synthetic field will help alleviate that problem…This project would give the kids a place to get exercise and fresh air during the winter months, when all the grass fields are closed to play.”

For opponents of the new turf, what it really comes down to is preserving a natural play area. Jody Fuentes, whose family uses the field at least weekly for soccer, catch or frisbee, said: “We could do the same things (on plastic turf) but it gets down to the feeling -- whether or not it’s inviting, if it’s comfortable to go on bare feet, for kids to roll on and wrestle. My daughter plays soccer, but she asks, ‘What about kids who don’t?’

“There are critters living in the grass and birds, so it’s the idea of getting rid of something natural and everything that’s dependent on it.”

Meanwhile, Anderson is calling for a compromise, perhaps putting FieldTurf in infield areas, or around baseball diamonds or soccer goals.

"I'm optimistic we'll find a compromise," he said. "The real issue is that this is a historic park, so to put synthetic turf there you change the personality of the park forever. It's almost betraying the very kids who worked hard to create that space 70 years ago."

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

There are plans for at least 10 more fields to be converted over the next 20 years.

Parks officials will meet one last time with the community Tuesday, June 14, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Loyal Heights Community Center.

The Board of Park Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the project on Thursday, July 14. Park Board meetings are held at 100 Dexter Ave. N, from 6 to 8 p.m.