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younger the athletes are the less of a safety risk there is. He reviewed how old turf gets recycled 1 <br />and what it gets recycled into. He noted his one concern is with the temperature and will be very 2 <br />few days that there will be excessive heat to limit its use. Watering the field will limit the heat in 3 <br />the short term but for Minnesota it is a very nominal effect so the safety with the athletes will not 4 <br />be an issue at all. He indicated he has not seen any adverse health affects with this turf. He 5 <br />stated he believed in this project and has volunteered his services and is not asking for anything 6 <br />in return. He just wants to do better for the community. 7 <br /> 8 <br />Mr. Scott Bentz stated he is the helmet program director for the St. Anthony Football Booster 9 <br />Program, and he was representing the Football Booster Board. The St. Anthony Football 10 <br />Boosters support this project and would like to see it go forward. Their program would benefit 11 <br />from this greatly like many other programs in St. Anthony would. He stated this would not only 12 <br />enhance the infrastructure and would build environmental responsibility as well. 13 <br /> 14 <br />Mr. Paul White, 3201 32nd Avenue NE: “I’ve been doing my best to understand the factors 15 <br />related to the proposal to install artificial turf at the school facilities at central park. I’ve gathered 16 <br />information in a very short amount of time, and am sharing my notes for your consideration. I 17 <br />very much want to support this proposal but have not been able to find a comprehensive 18 <br />evaluation of the alternatives under consideration. I list some conclusions at the bottom below. 19 <br /> 20 <br />Notes on School District/City consideration of artificial turf to enhance usage of school facilities 21 <br />at central park: The issue at hand is the inadequacy of the football field and running track as they 22 <br />are currently maintained. The information that I’ve seen from the city and school district appears 23 <br />to focus on the “feasibility” of installing artificial turf, and does not appear to evaluate the pros & 24 <br />cons of artificial turf vs. alternatives available to SAV (such as installing drainage, enhanced 25 <br />natural turf options/other). I expect that there was thoughtful work along those lines, but I’ve not 26 <br />been able to find it. 27 <br /> 28 <br />Dr. Troy Urdahl was very helpful, and sent me a download of information which I have reviewed 29 <br />and much appreciate. Notable: 30 <br />• Particularly helpful was the EPA study report for Part I of their evaluation of crumb rubber and 31 <br />bacteria. 32 <br />• It seems that the Part 2 report from that study has not come out yet, and could be very helpful 33 <br />to inform decision makers 34 <br />I’ve also looked for additional information and had conversations with a Parks & Rec director in 35 <br />Baltimore, MD and had a serendipitous conversation with a football player from Saint Anthony 36 <br />who has experience competing on both natural and artificial turf. I’ve done my best to try to stick 37 <br />to unbiased sources of information. 38 <br />The benefit of artificial turf appears to be that it may improve school & community access & 39 <br />enjoyment to the football field and running track. The potential negatives appear to be in the 40 <br />areas of community safety, environmental impact, and taxpayer cost as noted below: 41 <br />1. SAFETY 42 <br />a. MOMS TEAM article “Turf Wars: Pros and Cons of Artificial Turf”: 43 <br />https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/turf-wars-pros-and-cons-of-artificial-turf 44 <br />i. Pros: 45 <br />1. Easier maintenance 46 <br />6