A nearly yearlong effort to ban artificial turf on Santa Clara County-owned properties has failed after the Board of Supervisors was unable to come to a consensus on the much debated topic.
The natural grass versus artificial turf debate has become a dividing issue across the Bay Area in recent years — and Tuesday’s board meeting was no different as residents on both sides packed the downtown San Jose chambers.
During the meeting, supervisors wrestled over whether they would exempt playing fields. Attempts to approve a total ban or a ban with an exception for athletic fields both failed to get a majority vote.
Board President Otto Lee, who first proposed banning artificial turf last April citing potential environmental and health impacts, said in a statement that despite the outcome, they “still made progress to bring awareness to the impacts of plastic turf.”
“There is clear support for natural grass and acknowledgement of the risks to plastic turf, and we know cities and agencies were watching this vote from around the world,” Lee said, noting they received emails as far as Australia. “Even though the County of Santa Clara did not take up this ban today, we still have the opportunity to build more natural grass fields because the need remains.”
Artificial turf has become a popular alternative to grass, especially for playing fields, because it costs less to maintain and doesn’t require regular waterings. But turf is made of synthetic grass fibers with crumb rubber infill that contains PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals,” that will take thousands of years to break down and can cause adverse environmental and health effects — including cancer.
On warm days, turf also emits more heat than the natural alternative. And some medical professionals say it’s harder on athletes’ bodies.
At a press conference last week, Santa Clara County Medical Association President Dr. Fahd Khan called artificial turf “a game changer in the worst way.”
“The surfaces’ rigidity and lack of give increase the strain on joints, ligaments and muscles making it less forgiving during sudden stops, pivots and falls,” he said. “Plastic turf gets dangerously hot. On sunny days these fields can reach temperatures up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit — hot enough to cause heat exhaustion or burns.
But many of the soccer parents and coaches attending Tuesday’s meeting told the board that natural grass fields are often in poor shape — especially during the rainy season — and that there is a shortage of fields in the county.
Shea Salinas, a former Major League Soccer player and coach for the Santa Clara Lions, told the board that they constantly turn kids away because they don’t have enough field space.
“Our soccer team has access to four grass fields and four turf fields and unfortunately the four grass fields are never able to be utilized,” he said. “They’re constantly being re-seeded, re-sodded and re-surfaced and we’re never able to use them.”
Supervisor Betty Duong said that while the issue at its core is an environmental one, it is also about equity as her district, which includes East San Jose, has few recreational spaces for kids.
“I cannot in good conscience support an ordinance that tells community members that those places whether it be on the East Side, Little Saigon, South County or juveniles at the James Ranch that it is grass or nothing,” she said. “Since grass is not practical where you are, you get nothing. I know that’s not the message we’re trying to put out there today, but in it’s application I believe that is the message that will land.”