6 September 7-13, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | TURF WAR Deaf to outcry from residents, South Florida cities spend millions on fake grass. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN A cross South Florida, natural grass fields are being ripped up to make way for multi- million-dollar artificial turf instal- lations that have drawn ire from residents who say the synthetic surfaces pose health risks and will pollute their communities. Last month, one of the latest turf projects — which gave the City of Aventura’s baseball and soccer fields at Waterways Park a “fresh new look” with artificial turf — elicited a cas- cade of criticism from local parents and com- munity members. “So disappointing to live in a city with such great weather with no need for artificial grass, and yet we are using it anyway and ignoring the health risks it poses to humans and wild- life,” one critic said on Instagram. “For what?” On the heels of Waterways Park’s recent reopening with artificial turf, the city is mov- ing forward with another turf project at Founders Park — an already contentious site where a community garden was just torn out and relocated to make room for new pickle- ball courts, sparking residents’ outrage. Fake turf’s propensity to heat up under the sun is prompting worries that space will no longer be an idyllic spot for family gatherings. “Mind you [Founder’s Park North] is a fa- vorite family park whose field is always filled with kids and families — that isn’t just a field on which residents practice sport,” resident Alice Bonvicini tells New Times. “Many kids play there, babies crawl and walk there. Not sure how they are expected they do that on hot plas- tic grass, a real disaster and a slap in the face of many local families who enjoy this park.” Last September, the city awarded a more than $2 million contract to FieldTurf USA for the Waterways Park field improvement proj- ect. According to the company’s project pro- posal, it was offering the “FieldTurf XT-50 2” two-layer infill turf system with sand and am- bient rubber. (FieldTurf’s website describes ambient rubber as an “environment, cost-effi- cient, and durable solution that has with- stood the test of time.”) Evan Ross, Aventura communications di- rector, tells New Times the new FieldTurf has been met with “overwhelmingly positive feedback” from those who played on it at Wa- terways Park. The city maintains the turf will help keep the field open seven days a week, eliminate the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and cut down on maintenance costs. “Aventura loves to lead and innovate, but in this case, we are following the lead of countless entities that have successfully in- stalled and utilized FieldTurf,” Ross says. The fields at Cooper City Flamingo West Park use FieldTurf products, and high school football powerhouses St. Thomas Aquinas and Cardi- nal Gibbons also play on it, according to the company’s website. In an email, Aventura city manager Ronald Wasson said that the contract with FieldTurf is still being worked out for the Founders Park project. The company proposes install- ing the fake grass for more than $1.5 million. Meanwhile, a protest is planned by a group of Protect Founders Park South resi- dents on September 5 to save the natural grass fields at the park. “The environmental barometer of the city is broken,” resident Ariel Penzer tells New Times. “The field of the park that sits across the street from Founders Park South will be stripped of its natural grass from its beautiful field and the implementation of artificial turf. Exactly what our kids need — a material that becomes dangerously hot in the Florida heat and is connected to increased injuries in chil- dren who practice sports on it.” Kyla Bennett, an ecologist who worked as an enforcement officer with the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA), tells New Times it is “absolutely outrageous” that a South Florida municipality would replace nat- ural grass fields with plastic turf considering the health implications, the environmental im- pacts, and the fact that extreme Florida heat and constant rainfall will make it a harsh spot for play and recreation. She contends Florida Soccer has resumed on Waterways Park’s new turf fields in Aventura. City of Aventura photo | METRO |
