River Forest Park District Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to resurface both the baseball and softball infields with artificial turf and expand them slightly to fit Little League dimensions. Commissioners also will apply for a state grant to help pay for installation.
The vote came shortly after a July 1 public hearing. Board President Ross Roloff, along with commissioners Lynn Libera and Mark Brown voted in favor, while board Cheryl Cargie and Dennis Healy voted against.
It’s been nearly two years since the River Forest Youth Baseball Softball organization proposed putting artificial turf on the softball infield and offered to donate $50,000 to help pay for it. The park district will now apply for an Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to cover up to 50 percent of the cost.
The state is expected to announce grant winners in January. If the park district gets the grant, it is expected to start construction in July 2020.
Since the original proposal was submitted, park district studied several options, including two alternatives to an artificial turf. The staff ultimately recommending putting the turf on the softball and baseball infields, as well as extending them by two feet and 12 feet, respectively.
Roloff noted that doing both fields at the same time would allow for “substantial savings” for the park district.
According to a presentation shown during the July 1 hearing, installing the turf would cost $296,450. The park district estimates that, between the costs of cleaning up the fields after flooding, as well as new revenue that would come with from the fields being used more often, the artificial turf would save the park district $29,400.
Around 30 residents attended the hearing, with 14 of them speaking. For the most part, the arguments echoed what had been said at the preceding meetings. Opponents argued that the artificial turf poses environmental and health risks. Supporters argued that health risks are exaggerated and that an artificial turf is a practical solution to reducing flooding, allowing more games to be played.
Cargie said she shared some of the opponents’ concerns that the park district didn’t do enough to explore alternatives to artificial turf, as well as with concerns that the park district hasn’t done a proper engineering study.
Park district Executive Director Mike Sletten said that the park district saw no point in doing a study when they could simply ask engineering firms for their opinions and get the same results.
Cargie went on to ask whether the park district talked with Concordia University about letting them use their fields off-season. Sletten replied that, while the park district already uses their track and had used other facilities, baseball and softball weren’t discussed.
Healy said he had reservations about the fact that “there hasn’t been a large percentage of families [of players] come out and voice their support of the turf.”
“There’s 650 kids [on the teams], but there’s not a lot of families that are supporting it verbally or [by] writing letters to the board,” he said.
Roloff noted that a few parents had showed up at the past meetings.
Healy said that another issue is that the artificial turf is a long-term commitment and takes away some flexibility if they decide to make changes to Keystone Park five or 10 years down the line.
“If we were to put in the turf right now and we decided to make some changes, we are stuck with it,” he said.
Brown said that he wrestled with the issue for months, especially because of concerns that the turf might contain carcinogenic materials.
“My family has been impacted by this disease way too much,” he said. “But I also know that I review scientific papers as part of my job, and I don’t see any hard evidence for the link between artificial turf and cancer.”
And while Brown said that he might change his mind of the costs wind up too high, for the time being, he supported the project as it was.
“I wouldn’t want to see all of Keystone covered with [artificial] turf, or Constitution [Park], or any other large field,” he said. “But I think for the amount of space we’re proposing, it would be a good thing for this community.”
This story has been changed to correctly identify park commissioner Dennis Healy.
