During Monday night’s meeting, Cambridge City Council voted unanimously to halt plans to install artificial turf in East Cambridge’s Ahern Field until the city manager’s office files a report back to council on why the decision to use turf was made, how members of the public were engaged, and if there are any public health concerns associated with using artificial turf.
Councillor Patty Nolan, probably the council’s staunchest environmental advocate this term, brought the policy order to council. She said that while it was clear from last year’s budget and planning cycle that plans for Ahern involved laying turf, at the time she and other councillors did not sufficiently engage users of the field. Since then, many neighbors have expressed their preference for grass and raised concerns about whether turf would reduce storm drainage or introduce PFAS and microplastics into what was once a natural environment.
“I really think this is a time when we need to make sure construction doesn’t move forward until we have those issues addressed fully,” Nolan said.
The issue drew significant attention during the public comment period, with many East Cambridge residents advocating to keep the field as it is, while representatives from Cambridge Youth Soccer (CYS) said turf was necessary to keep up with demand for durable space kids can use for practices and games.
Residents highlighted the many uses for Ahern beyond soccer, however. They said converting it to turf would hinder their enjoyment of the space for picnics, walking their dogs, and playing volleyball, which requires soft grass to put up nets.
Cambridge resident Sylvia Mangan, who lives across the street from Ahern, called the field “so much more than an athletic facility.”
“I think of it as like Cambridge Common, a vital community space in a dense neighborhood.”
“Grass is forgiving”
Several commenters raised concerns about turf’s potential for increasing injury, affecting public health and environmental impact.
Cambridge 13-year-old Giulia Stevens shared how she and her friends had spent hours cartwheeling, hula-hooping and playing tag at Ahern. “You can imagine my dismay when I learned that my beloved field would get turfed,” she said.
“All of the sports and games that I mentioned before have one thing in common: falling. And when you fall on turf, it will give you turf burn. Grass is forgiving, fresh, and it doesn’t release microplastics into the air. Also, it provides water drainage in case of floods.”
Turf also had support
Supporters of installing turf spoke at the meeting as well, although they were fewer in number. To some of them, having turf fields in the city was simply the cost of having youth soccer programs in the city.
“I don’t think turf is the end of the world, as a parent of four kids who all played CYS,” said Cambridge resident Joe Adiletta. He agreed that there should have been a deeper study on the city’s end to determine how the city wanted to use the field, but said turf is the best way to go if athletics are the priority. “If it stays a park, like Cambridge Common, that’s great. If it’s determined that it’s going to be a multi-use season-long athletic field for game after game, the use of grass in New England in particular is certainly sub-optimal.”
City representatives said updates to turf technology could help blunt some of the negative environmental effects. City Manager Yi-An Huang told Cambridge Day that the turf the city plans to use doesn’t intentionally introduce PFAS into the manufacturing process (although it’s unclear if trace amounts of PFAS could still end up in the final product). Deputy City Manager Kathy Watkins also assured the council that under-field drainage was still possible with turf, pointing to a turf renovation that was recently done in Sennott Park.
Councillor Cathie Zusy said she still had concerns that the decision to use turf was short-sighted, pointing out projections for higher temperatures in years to come due to climate change that could make turf unusable on hot days. According to Zusy, surface temperatures of turf fields can reach 180 degrees on hot days.
“In 2030, 20 to 40 days will be over 90 degrees, and in 2040, 25 to 90 days will be over 90 degrees, so that synthetic turf is going to be very, very hot” Zusy said. “Going forward, you get more playing time, but you’re creating incredible waste because you’re throwing away this huge plastic carpet after ten years.”
Zusy also offered an amendment to the policy order, asking the city manager’s office to do a broader study on the optimal number of synthetic versus natural turf fields the city should maintain, and in what neighborhoods. The amendment was unanimously adopted.
Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and Councillor Marc McGovern initially co-sponsored the policy order, with Councillors Zusy, Tim Flaherty, and Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem asking to be added as additional co-sponsors at the meeting. Watkins said the city will report back to council in about a month.
A stronger
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