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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 26, 2020 Page 6 1 younger the athletes are the less of a safety risk there is. He reviewed how old turf gets recycled 2 and what it gets recycled into. He noted his one concern is with the temperature and will be very 3 few days that there will be excessive heat to limit its use. Watering the field will limit the heat in 4 the short term but for Minnesota it is a very nominal effect so the safety with the athletes will not 5 be an issue at all. He indicated he has not seen any adverse health affects with this turf. He 6 stated he believed in this project and has volunteered his services and is not asking for anything 7 in return. He just wants to do better for the community. 8 9 Mr. Scott Bentz stated he is the helmet program director for the St. Anthony Football Booster 10 Program, and he was representing the Football Booster Board. The St. Anthony Football 11 Boosters support this project and would like to see it go forward. Their program would benefit l 2 from this greatly like many other programs in St. Anthony would. He stated this would not only 13 enhance the infrastructure and would build environmental responsibility as well. 14 15 Mr. Paul White, 3201 32nd Avenue NE: "I've been doing my best to understand the factors 16 related to the proposal to install artificial turf at the school facilities at central park. I've gathered 17 information in a very short amount of time, and am sharing my notes for your consideration. I 18 very much want to support this proposal but have not been able to find a comprehensive 19 evaluation of the alternatives under consideration. I list some conclusions at the bottom below. 20 21 Notes on School District/City consideration of artificial turf to enhance usage of school facilities 22 at central park: The issue at hand is the inadequacy of the football field and running track as they 23 are currently maintained. The information that I've seen from the city and school district appears 24 to focus on the "feasibility" of installing artificial turf, and does not appear to evaluate the pros & 25 cons of artificial turf vs. alternatives available to SAV (such as installing drainage, enhanced 26 natural turf options/other). I expect that there was thoughtful work along those lines, but I've not 27 been able to find it. 28 29 Dr. Troy Urdahl was very helpful, and sent me a download of information which I have reviewed 30 and much appreciate. Notable: 31 • Particularly helpful was the EPA study report for Part I of their evaluation of crumb rubber and 32 bacteria. 33 • It seems that the Part 2 report from that study has not come out yet, and could be very helpful 34 to inform decision makers 35 I've also looked for additional information and had conversations with a Parks & Rec director in 36 Baltimore, MD and had a serendipitous conversation with a football player from Saint Anthony 37 who has experience competing on both natural and artificial turf. I've done my best to try to stick 38 to unbiased sources of information. 39 The benefit of artificial turf appears to be that it may improve school & community access & 40 enjoyment to the football field and running track. The potential negatives appear to be in the 41 areas of community safety, environmental impact, and taxpayer cost as noted below: 42 1. SAFETY 43 a. MOMS TEAM article "Turf Wars: Pros and Cons of Artificial Turf': 44 https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/turf-wars-pros-and-cons-of-artificial-turf 45 i. Pros: 46 1. Easier maintenance