The Case for an Artificial Turf Field at CVU
Group proposing a privately funded athletic complex at our local high school shares their arguments for CVSD to accept their $6 million gift. The next board meeting is June 30 at 6 p.m.
Editor’s note: The Hinesburg Record encouraged Eli Lesser-Goldsmith, spokesman for the Community Field Project, to send a letter to us making their case for their proposed gift of an artificial turf field, bleachers, lights, storm water treatment and ADA compliant access. The group has taken us up on that offer and have put this letter together.
Hi neighbors,
It’s important that you hear directly from the group that is leading the effort to provide a new athletic complex to CVU, so you have the facts. Our group, the Community Field Project, started work on this over a year ago after listening and meeting with dozens of stakeholders. However, the idea and energy to complete this athletic field project was started over 15 years ago. This is an idea the CVS district has wanted and worked on for over a decade. Our group has simply taken the initiative to deliver results, this time with a new strategy.
The forefront of this effort is to build community and inspire joy. The Community Field Project will bring people together, for the joy of sports and the connection of community. In our divided and fractured world where people are isolated and on screens more than ever, community connection is something we need more than ever now. This project will inspire people to come together as a community with their friends and neighbors, for amazing events, for people of all ages, for generations to come.
Key Facts:
This exact field and turf product is already in use all over Vermont, and all over America. This is the same field complex that exists at South Burlington, Rice, BHS, UVM, Middlebury College, and thousands of other sites all over the Northeast.
Because we care so much about the environment, this project dramatically improves the current environmental conditions of the field by installing a state of the art stormwater management system. Plus, the turf product being installed is 100 percent 50-state legal and 100 percent PFAS-free
The new field will be accessible to all, including a brand new ADA parking lot, ADA access paths and ADA event viewing. The current field is not ADA accessible and is not welcoming to all who want to spectate, play, or attend events. Access, inclusion, and accessibility is extremely important.
This project is 100 percent privately funded. There will be no cost or burden to taxpayers or residents of the five towns that CVU serves.
Why it Matters:
CVU is the biggest high school in Vermont, and deserves a best-in-class sports facility.
Many games and practices are missed due to weather, mud, and bad conditions. Anyone who plays or has played on the current field knows exactly what we’re referring to. To any parent who has to drive their athlete or fan to an opposing field for a home game understands this as well.
This is community building. Shared spaces like this, that bring people together, in real places, for connection, fresh air, joy and happiness is what humans need more and more of. Thousands of people reading this have attended a Vermont Green game, a UVM soccer or lacrosse match, a playoff soccer game at the BHS turf field, or been to a Friday night game under the lights at the South Burlington field, where hundreds of happy, joyous kids, parents and community members all gather, connect, and enjoy themselves.
Now let’s clear up the biggest misconceptions about this project, with facts and data.
The turf is 100 percent PFAS-free. The reason we have been working with FieldTurf is because they are the biggest manufacturer in America. They have to follow every rule, and every law in order to sell their products in all 50 states. Independent studies have confirmed this, and thankfully Vermont passed a PFAS law that went into effect in January of this year. All FieldTurf products meet the letter of the Vermont law.
The new stormwater management system will clean up an unmitigated environmental situation currently at CVU. Remember, the current field has no stormwater management. All current runoff (including chemicals, PFAS from sports equipment, etc., and all other materials being deposited onto the current grass field) are not being treated. The new state of the art stormwater treatment system (as regulated by the state of Vermont) will contain and capture 99.9 percent of all runoff, preventing it from traveling further downstream. The overall project then becomes a dramatic environmental improvement, not just for the CVU site, but for everything downstream in the town of Hinesburg.
As for considering grass, it was absolutely considered. We completed a detailed cost-benefit analysis, talked to injury experts, spoke to dozens of stakeholders, spoke to grass installers and experts, and of course asked CVSD directly what surface they would prefer. All answers pointed to turf, for reasons including accessibility, environmental improvement, cost, playability, ability to handle major rain events, keeping athletes safe, the ability to hold school and community events on the surface year-round, and many more common sense reasons We have consistently met with and listened to all stakeholders, including groups who believe grass is the only solution, because we are inclusive, and we listen. That said, sometimes listening does not mean agreeing. Time after time, meeting after meeting, turf remains the best solution for CVU. Further, a grass field costs CVSD around $20-30k/year with maintenance, transportation of kids to alternate fields, and rental costs of those fields. A turf field will become a revenue generator for CVSD, with conservative estimates at around $80-100k/year, easily covering yearly turf maintenance and turf replacement every 10-12 years, as well with zero cost to taxpayers.
The Community Field Project has spread joy, facts and the truth from the beginning. Our efforts come from a place of community building, bringing people together, and joy. We have always taken the high road, and remained kind, open, and transparent throughout the process. We have listened to all voices throughout the process, but listening does not always mean agreeing or changing course. The facts and the truth are on our side, and we look forward to delivering this amazing gift to the CVSD community.
Community Field Project
Friends of CVU
Buccaneers Football
Far Post Soccer
Soccer Roots
NVTYLL Lacrosse
Big on promises, short on proof.
Contaminating town water and local private wells is stealing a source of deep joy, and health, from Hinesburg. Community is served just as well by grass fields.
Costs quoted here don't match what was shared by the CVU School Board in May, and don't include the cost to the town of filtering water or the $350k disposal cost in ten years, or the fact that this project will cost 10 times as much, over a decade, as maintaining current operations.
For instance, the School Board said the cost of current operations is $13,500 per year, but this article doubles or triples that figure. The School Board is reported as having said that they will have the final say on infill choice, but the Community Field Project denies that. When the School Board and project leaders are not on the same page, how can the community trust the process?
Plastics proponents won't insist the company provide a sample for independent testing. The industry's marketing research tests for only 40 out of 15,000 PFAS chemicals. The excuses for not doing so are transparent. If a student turned in a paper without evidence for their conclusions, would the teacher give that paper a good grade? Would a school accept excuses from a student who gave harmful substances to classmates?
Microplastics will gum up Hinesburg's water filtration. Crumb rubber infill has 95 carcinogens. CVU is in a Source Water Protection Area, whereas most artificial turf fields in VT are on lake water or reservoirs above the fields. Drainage goes down to town wells one mile away. PFAS are slick and slippery, and travel much greater distances than a mile.
Can a School District be allowed to pollute a host town's water supply and contaminate its own students?
This project is undemocratic as the District voted against it twice, in 2013 and 2015. It's unacceptable and unethical for a small group to make a decision that affects the welfare of Hinesburg and towns downstream.