MCPS has released the bids for the preparation of the Paint Branch High School stadium field for artificial turf, as part of that school's upcoming modernization.
The Board of Education APPROVED the low bid for the site work for Paint Branch High School on December 8, 2009. Of course, the memorandum from the Superintendent to the Board didn't note that the site work included $93,000 for the preparation of the stadium for artificial turf, but why should the Board know what they are paying for anyway?
The bids that were received can be seen and compared on this MCPS bid sheet. Note that the bids were not for just a stadium field, but specifically for the preparation of the field for the installation of artificial turf.
Paint Branch High School Bid Sheet
It is appalling that before getting public comment on and approval for a prohibitively expensive artificial turf field they are going ahead and bidding out the base prep for such a plastic field. If they prep for artificial turf they cannot even think about a much cheaper, healthier better playing and durable state of the art natural turf field and are condemning taxpayers to keep feeding these money pits. Why? because they excavate tons of soil (up to three feet deep) and truck in tons of rock (for an up to 3 foot deep base) then place the thin plastic tufted tarp on top with 2 inches of tire crumbs laid down as the last step. Once the soil is carted away there is no going back- NOTHING will EVER grow on that site again unless the tons of rocks are taken away (and tons of soil returned).
ReplyDeleteEven worse - the 1-1.2 million dollar initial cost is only the tip of the plastic iceberg. Every 5-10 years the plastic tarp and tire crumb need to be disposed of to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars (based on the experience of other municipalities- we cannot get a straight answer on disposal costs or procedure from MCPS or FieldTurf). THEN a new plastic rug with tons of toxic tire crumb trucked in again needs to be put down at half a million to a million dollars (again based on the experience of others with degraded FieldTurf rugs). How is this a good deal for the taxpayer, students and schools? It's NOT.
Think about it- around 2 million dollars over 10 years (considering only the first replacement) JUST for the rug and an additional $100,000 or so for maintenance. A state of the art Bermuda grass field with stormwater capture for irrigation and great drainage would cost a fraction to install. Even if the maintenance was $10,000 more than plastic (which is debatable- less if it were done smartly), a state of the art natural field would be less than half the cost over 10 years and even comparatively cheaper as more artificial turf rug replacements must be done.