April 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 72

Operations
the municipality has 127 parks and 98
miles of bike trails. Sports play heavily
into the community's use of its parks-
football, baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, and rugby, among other sports.
Chris Nunes, The Woodlands' director of parks and recreation, says their
decision to convert six fields was in
part guided by the results of a sophisticated analysis of nearly every factor
associated with the development, operation, and maintenance of a playing
surface. Key criteria include: water
usage, maintenance costs, irrigation repairs, field rental income, and even the
cost of painting lines on the fields.
Nunes's 13-tab analysis spreadsheet
projects scenarios as far as the year 2023
to cover the life expectancy of natural
and synthetic turf fields. The criteria
even breaks down revenue and costs by
time of day to better understand the impact of lighting fields at night.
" It is estimated that we will save
$148,000, though this also includes a
cost to maintain the all-weather fields, "
Nunes says. " Many people think that
the fields are maintenance-free. However, regular weekly, bi-weekly, quarterly, and annual maintenance should
be done and calculated to understand
the full cost/savings of moving toward
all-weather fields. The $148,000 does
not include any offsets for revenue. "
The Woodlands will have a total of
six synthetic turf fields (about 12 acres
of turf) at the end of the project. Four
have been completed, and carpet is currently being installed on the final two.
" About 50 percent of our multipurpose fields at our sport complexes will
be turf, " Nunes says. " Our goal with
this analysis was to highlight all of
the cost savings and expenses related
to the turf. We wanted to present our
board with as much information as
possible to make them aware of the
impact of placing all-weather fields
in the community-maintenance sav70

Parks & Recreation

The conversion of this field in Needham, Massachusetts, has allowed for
a longer playing season and more
frequent games.

ings/cost, water savings, and replacement cost. One factor that has moved
the conversion issue to the forefront is
the cost of water to irrigate grass. In
our community and in many communities around the country, the cost of
water is going up. Due to the volume
of water used on athletic fields and
cost, it helped demonstrate that cost
savings could be realized. "
Bill Beckner, NRPA's manager of
research and former director of the
Fairfax County (Virginia) Park Authority, serves as a consultant for
many park agencies. He says the majority of his clients begin the turf-assessment process with only the most
basic knowledge.
" Most of them are only aware of
the choice, " he says. " They are not
aware of the trade-offs. They know
you can build a synthetic field for
$750,000 or spend $250,000 for natural turf. So, they say, 'Why would I
want to build a synthetic field?' "
Beckner tells them the number-one
key is use-the window of opportunity
to use a field. Basically, whichever surface allows the maximum number of
hours of usage at the lower cost becomes
the deciding factor. Then, other closely
related factors come into play-soil conditions, length of playing season, and,

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importantly, weather conditions.
For example, rock-hard soil requires substantial digging out and
replacing with soil more conducive
to the growth of natural turf. And
that can be costly. Clay tends to drain
poorly, which requires longer waiting
times to resume play. Add in a long
playing season in a high-rain region,
and synthetic fields begin to make
more sense. Many Midwestern states,
on the other hand, have such good
growing soil that natural turf may be
the better option there, Beckner says.
He advises park and recreation
agencies considering converting to
synthetic turf to do their homework
to become familiar with the various
trade-offs in the decision.
" There are plenty of checklists out
there to consult, " Beckner says. " And
there are plenty of people to help
through the homework.
" The key consideration will be the
number of additional hours of playing time, " he continues. " Costs may be
offset by user fees, but, still, the allocation of playing time is more important.
Happy campers don't complain. "
Phil Hayward is the former editor of
Parks & Recreation (phayward88@
gmail.com).

April 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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