Put turf field at school, parents say

Published 6:00 am Saturday, February 19, 2005

Up-front cost is higher, but sports play would be year-round.

Build it and they will run. And kick, and pass and play.

Youth sports advocates rallied for synthetic sports fields at Bainbridge High School Thursday, at a workshop on the upcoming school construction bond.

“We really have a crisis of fields on this island,” said Laura Sachs, president of the Bainbridge Island Youth Soccer Club, which has 1,100 members. “This has been talked about for 10 years and put off. It’s time to start putting the money into it.”

Likewise, parent Clif McKenzie urged the board to commit to building a new performing arts center on the campus, saying it’s clear there is student need and community support for such a venue.

“We know people want it,” McKenzie said. “If we get bogged down in how it’s going to run, we’ll never get it built.”

The issues of improving field and performing arts space are under review by the school board, as it hammers out details of an estimated $40 million construction bond set to go before the voters sometime this year.

The board indicated Thursday it had enough information to proceed on the sports field question, although the performing arts facility issue will require further study.

Installing an artificial turf field at the high school stadium would increase the use of that field from 400 hours annually to 2,200 hours, the equivalent of adding four new ball fields on the island, according to a school district report.

And while the $1 million cost for artificial turf would be twice that of a grass field, youth sports advocates on the island said the cost is worth it, and long overdue.

Ball fields at local schools are out of use much of the year because of wet weather. And with only $20,000 devoted to their annual maintenance, they have fallen into disrepair, school officials and community members agreed.

Representatives from island soccer, lacrosse and Little League teams, as well as the park district, said that creating a year-round, all-weather field at the high school would benefit school programs and would alleviate crowding at other community fields.

“This is the most cost-effective way to provide field space,” said Tom Weed, a soccer parent and coach. “All the athletic fields in our district are closed, and they have been since Thanksgiving.

“They will not reopen until March and they will close again in June.”

Weed recommended the district build the more expensive artificial turf field, and recoup costs by charging community groups to use it when students in band, football and track are not.

District Superintendent Ken Crawford said the new varieties of artificial turf are considered far superior to the slippery, hard-plastic variety installed on patios years ago. With surfaces that allow cleats to penetrate, rotate and release more easily, they also can minimize injuries and turf burn, research shows.

Possible disadvantages include the higher up-front cost, a perception by the public that it is “luxurious and imprudent,” and that nighttime field use and lighting could irritate neighbors, Crawford said.

But the advantages are compelling, he said, pointing out that artificial turf requires virtually no maintenance – just an occasional rinse with a hose – while grass requires watering, mowing, striping, seeding, and other labor-intensive attention.

As for the cost, “I have no doubt there will be cost savings over time. But whether or not it will pay for itself, I do not know,” Crawford said.