Dear Newton City Council,
Having invested our time and energy into supporting safe and accessible community use of Albemarle over the past few years, we, the board of Friends of Albemarle, are writing to encourage you to please push forward with planned synthetic turf fields at both North and Albemarle. This letter is intended to represent the opinion of the board.
The organization for which we volunteer as board, Friends of Albemarle, is a certified 501(c)3 nonprofit with more than 500 members including two state representatives and half of Newton city council.
We care deeply about the environment and have fought consistently for open green space. In fact, it is this concern that makes us write to you today.
Newton has taken many steps to ensure the greatest level of environmental responsibility in the use of synthetic turf, including recycling the old turf. These two turf installations would bring us to a mere 6% of our total fields (118 acres total), leaving the other 110 acres to remain as grass fields. No other synthetic turf is planned. This is simply a way to manage extremely high-volume areas of use, much like we choose to use asphalt instead of dirt on our main roads.
Please be aware that any delay of the synthetic turf at Albemarle will also delay the installation of a planned bike and walking path that will create significantly safer conditions at Albemarle, not to mention improved grass fields, wetlands integration and rainwater management, and better lighting that allows for the healthy outdoor community recreation for which we have worked so very hard.
We don’t see a reason to unfairly limit the recreation of North students and Albemarle community users, especially based on the idea that a turf field is somehow different and more concerning than the many other uses of plastics in our homes and schools, from take-out containers to classroom chairs to playgrounds. With two synthetic turf fields on the south side of the city, we think the time is right for two functional fields on the north side as well (including a replacement of North’s turf so that games can proceed as planned).
Please reach out to us if you have questions.
Sincerely,
The Board of the Friends of Albemarle
Friends of Albemarle 