This is an ill fraught, shorted sighted plan. These plastic grass fields have a short life, often not lasting as long as their 8 year warranty. They begin to deteriorate the moment they are placed.
The installation, maintenance, grooming machinery, cleaning, GMax or HIC testing, topping off infill (2-5 tons/year), closure for failing GMax or HIC testing, snow days (plowing the snow voids the warranty) and extreme heat (they have been shown to reach up to 202F) make this an extremely expensive short term fix.
The environmental concerns are significant. Degradation of blades, backing and infill create 1-5 tons of microplastic pollution per year: in the soil, storm drains, waterways and lakes and beyond. They are an illicit violation of MS4 permits. The US EPA interim strategy for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in federally issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, signed Nov. 2020, is a necessary consideration. Every synthetic turf fie
Princeton Academy is a private boys’ school for grades K-8 that was founded in 1998. Currently, students at the school play soccer, lacrosse and baseball, participate in physical education classes, and enjoy recess playtime on two grass fields. The proposed turf project would convert the existing grass athletic fields in the northeast corner of Princeton Academy’s campus into turf fields. The turf fields would primarily be for soccer, lacrosse, and baseball. The Princeton Soccer Association would lease the turf fields, using them on weekdays from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and on weekends until 7 p.m.
At the planning board’s public virtual meeting on Dec. 10, about 100 people were on Zoom for the public hearing on the academy’s proposed fields, but the board reviewed another project first, and that review took three hours, leaving only half an hour for the review of the school’s application.