WESTFIELD, NJ — At last week's town council meeting, many Westfield residents expressed both health and environmental concerns over the Edison School Field Project — a proposal that involves installing three turf fields at Edison Intermediate School.

This project is estimated to cost around $9 million, and residents at Tuesday's meeting argued that members of the town council should rethink this proposal.

Similar battles over turf fields have gone on in Maplewood and Princeton in the last year.

According to the conceptual plan, that was presented on Sept. 20, the Westfield project will include:

The project to create multi-use fields for soccer, lacrosse, baseball, field hockey, football, the band and other uses was first proposed back in June of 2021.

The Town argues that by proving these new fields by the Edison School, it will allow for more public use of the existing fields and optimize the outdoor space. Currently, only Westfield High School baseball games and select track and field event competitions can be held on the existing fields, and the additional fields would allow for greater use, according to the Town.

However, some residents believe installing these new turf fields will be dangerous for a number of reasons.

At the meeting, Janet Onishi — a Westfield resident — said there are certain chemicals used in artificial turf that children can be exposed to when playing on the fields.

According to the NJ Health Department, turf fields are made out of plastic fibers woven into a plastic mesh backing. They also include an in-fill material, which is commonly composed of rubber pellets made from recycled automobile tires — known as "crumb rubber."

Crumb rubber is made out of a variety of synthetic organic chemicals, including some volatile chemicals like toluene, benzene and aldehydes among others. This material may also contain high levels of zinc, and possibly other metals such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead or selenium.

Because crumb rubber is produced from recycled tires from a variety of sources, it is possible that these products vary in their composition and potential toxicity, according to the Health Department.

However, evidence on the possible health risks of artificial turf is largely inconclusive.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment reported on potential health risks of recycled tire crumb rubber on playgrounds and concluded that it is "… unlikely that a onetime ingestion of tire shreds would produce adverse [non-cancer] health effects."

Onishi mentioned that turf contains certain endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which can be dangerous.

According to an article in the National Center for Health Research, these chemicals can cause of exacerbate the following health problems:

This article also argues these chemicals are known to reduce male fertility and eventually can increase risk of developing cancer.

But, again, most research shows that a public health risk from turf appears unlikely and must be further investigated.

"We are not talking only about the children in our youth sports programs and the band, but all those that attend Edison Intermediate School now and in the future," Onishi said at the meeting.

Jean Lehmberg, another Westfield resident, spoke about several environmental issues related to turf fields. She suggested that instead of adding these synthetic fields, the town should consider safer alternatives, such as organically maintained, modern grass fields.

"Proponents of synthetic turf claim that it is safe because it has been in existence for 50 years ... and it is prevalent in surrounding communities," Lemberg said. "But those claims, no matter how many times they are repeated, are irrelevant and do not prove product safety."

Lehmberg said synthetic turf contains "known carcinogens" and release greenhouse gases.

"The amount of plastic used to construct one synthetic turf field is equivalent to 3.2 million single-use plastic bags," Lemberg said. "[This is] the same type of bag that will no longer be available in New Jersey starting on May 4. With that thought in mind, does it make sense to install any new synthetic turf fields in Westfield, which has set 'being a premier sustainable town' as a key objective for 2022?"

According to The Atlantic, "the average [turf] field contains approximately 40,000 pounds of plastic carpet and 400,000 pounds of infill."

Lehmberg added that the $9 million spent on a project like this could alternatively be used to install organically maintained, modern grass fields at every Westfield school.

"Replacing nearly six acres of natural grass with plastic carpet and ground up tires will deny current and future [Edison Intermediate School] students the well-documented cognitive and mental health benefits provided by spending time outdoors in natural settings," Lemberg said.

"It will be nearly impossible to keep pieces of plastic grass and crumb rubber particles from migrating off the fields and into the school building."

She also said installing turf fields and stadium-grade lights is not in keeping with Lifelong Westfield's "age in place" objective, which is meant to create an environment that is suitable for seniors and their caregivers.

Lehmberg argued that installing these fields would bring more noise and bright lights to the neighborhood that might disrupt older residents.

To learn more about the Edison School Multipurpose Fields Project, visit this page on the town's website.

The previous Westfield Town Council meeting can be viewed on Facebook.

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