Nothing Artificial About Demand For Synthetic Fields Around New Jersey

Courtesy of The Star-Ledger
Written by Bev McCarron
October 9, 2005

The last straw came when an official canceled yet another Bridgewater-Raritan lacrosse game because the high school field was unplayable.

Parents decided it was time to replace the grass field, where the lacrosse and football teams play, with synthetic turf and resolved to raise $700,000 to pay for it.

The fundraising effort fell short. But then a resident stepped up and co-signed a $300,000 loan, and the turf got installed in time for football season last year.

The need for durable, playable fields has increased in school districts across New Jersey. Artificial turf can absorb more play than grass, and with far less maintenance, but often is too expensive for tight school budgets. So parents, foundations and athletic boosters are increasingly shouldering the costs.

In the North Hunterdon district, a $185,000 home equity loan was taken out by a resident to get the field carpeted in time for the first game on Sept. 9, according to Andrea Marsh, who co-chaired a committee to raise money for the field. The committee plans to pay the homeowner back.

In Summit, the first home game took place yesterday on turf that was half paid for by a family who gave $400,000 in exchange for naming rights.

While some may wonder if in sports-obsessed society parents have gone overboard in getting their children the same fields that professional athletes and college teams play on, others say turf has become a necessity because of an explosion in the number of kids who play sports.

Not only do football teams use the turf, but so do lacrosse, field hockey, soccer and the local Pop Warner teams.

"Before it (the field) was used five times a year by the football team for home games," said Mark Melillo, treasurer of the Hillsborough Athletic Foundation. "The band was allowed to use it once a week. Other than that, no one was allowed on the field because it was in horrible shape."

The Hillsborough foundation worked with the district's education foundation to raise $400,000, then took out a $60,000 loan from a community bank for the balance.

Parents and foundations have stepped in when voters have refused the expense of synthetic turf, reflecting not just the ongoing tension between those with kids and those without, but also between families whose kids play sports and those who don't.

To build the fields, booster groups or even education foundations tap local businesses and corporations as well as private residents. Some have enlisted local contractors to do the prep work.

Perry DiPiazza, state sales representative for FieldTurf, which has done 111 fields in New Jersey, including the playing surfaces at Giants Stadium and Rutgers Stadium, says costs range from $555,000 to $750,000 for most high school fields, depending on the square-footage. DiPiazza said fields are best described as a "shag carpet" with 2 1/2-inch blades of synthetic grass anchored in a surface made of recycled tire rubber, recycled sneaker rubber and rounded silica sand.

"It is amazing what people do. People go to extremes to see their child play on a beautiful field," DiPiazza said. "They do all kinds of crazy things."

In Montgomery, when voters turned down a proposal for turf at the new high school's stadium, a defunct education foundation was revived and took out a 10-year loan. The foundation, led by former high school principal Anne Marie Weber, got the bank loan largely based on pledges from people and businesses in the community.

The $1 million field and stadium project was deeded to the school board as a gift, with the foundation responsible for the financing.

"The foundation feels confident we can make the payments," said Weber, whose group has organized many fundraisers, including a car raffle and an upcoming benefit social, for the turf. "We have a highly energetic group of people."

In Summit, where the fields are used by the community and the schools, the city council agreed to pay for half of the turf -- but only if residents chipped in for the rest.

A single local family, Dean and Tara Geibel, whose three sons play several sports, ponied up for the balance. In return, Tatlock field will be renamed Metro Homes field, after the development company Geibel founded.

"We made a commitment to a public-private partnership to try to balance the expense, because there are people who use the field more than others," said Kevin Gardner, recreation board member. "We're sensitive to increasing taxes."

In Hillsborough, not everyone was pleased the district forged ahead just months after voters defeated, for a second time, a proposal to lay turf at the high school. Melillo said some are still critical of the plan, insisting money could be better spent on academic needs.

And there are those who question whether education foundations, formed in the 1990s to help districts with tight budgets enrich academic programs, should be funding capital improvements normally paid for through taxes.

"I have never seen anything quite like that," said Viktor Joganow, chief school administrator in Passaic Valley and a pioneer of the foundations when he was in Totowa. "Would they have the same passion if someone was cutting a foreign language program or something else? Would they step up and raise the funds for that?

"This is not a criticism. They may have outstanding academic programs and want to elevate the athletic program to that level. If they can encourage people to support them, that's obviously the American way. But it does say something about our values relative to athletics. It's over the top."