Though the county Board of Supervisors voted to allocate $225,000 to replace natural grass on high school football fields with synthetic turf, questions remain about the safety of the turf. Supervisors David Slutzky and Ann Mallek opposed the measure, citing health and safety concerns.
Slutzky, who with Mallek was appointed to try to answer questions raised by the Board on the health concerns, remains skeptical about the toxicity of some of the turf materials and the issue of overheating. “I am not convinced that they are dangerous, but I am certainly not convinced that they are safe,” he says. “And that’s why I voted against it.”
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Jason Bauman, UVA’s assistant AD for |
Not that it mattered much: The county School Board already approved the replacement back in November 2007 and would have looked into raising private money if supervisors had decided to pull the funds.
Given that information, “I thought it was preposterous that the Board decided, in these difficult times, to go ahead and spend the money,” says Slutzky. “I believe I was the only one to object for the financial reason.”
The cost of installing synthetic turf is $600,000 per field, reduced from an earlier estimate of $800,000. Much of the financing comes from an anonymous donor who gave city and county high schools $1.5 million for the fields.
Slutzky says he pushed to have the Board allot more time for research before making the final decision. Even in the event that the Board decided against giving the money, he says, he would have liked to hold a public hearing on the health concerns in order to avoid a community backlash that would result in tearing up the turf and bringing back the natural grass. “I’d rather have a good, open and public dialogue first,” he says. “If the community has a strong desire to keep these fields in because of the benefits they represent, so be it.”
UVA has four fields with synthetic turf. Jason Bauman, associate athletics director for Facilities and Operations says the University did the appropriate research before deciding to install the turf. “Our priority is to make sure that we can consistently deliver safe, playable fields for our athletes and with the turf, the fields were able to do exactly that.”
To the question of overheating, Bauman says that UVA has installed an irrigation system to ensure the quick cooling of the fields in the hottest summer months. “We have practices on our fields starting early August, and it’s really hot sometimes, but we have not experienced any temperatures on the fields that would approach dangerous levels,” he says. “Ours are safe and consistently playable.”
Slutzky says he has accepted the decision and wants to move on. “I don’t want the public to feel that I am crying over spilled milk. We voted the way we did, and we’ll move on.”
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