High School Fields Still Closed, Cost Not Yet Determined

After a dry weekend, the high school sport fields are for official use, school officials confirmed late Monday.

"We have been advised to wait until the silt dries before we begin any major clean-up," Assistant Superintendent of Business Angelo DeSimone said Monday night.

The district will be blowing off the loose materials on Tuesday, he said. "This will help in the drying process."

Although in a correspondence with neighbors, Superintendent Dr. Daniel Fishbein estimated the cleanup cost to be $3,700, DeSimone said he couldn't confirm any costs at this time.

"We are awaiting quotes from two companies to do the rest of the cleaning. I have no cost projection until I receive the quotes from the vendors."

The grass fields at Stadium and Stevens Field were often mudholes for extended periods of time as a result of flooding, the district said in its push for the , which included about $5 million for fields upgrades.

DeSimone said the district is taking things slowly and cautiously in the wake of flooding. Snazzier fields, after all, do little to prevent nature's wrath from striking., though DeSimone said he believes things look far better with turf than they would have with grass.

"Unfortunately, flooding is flooding. The modifications to the fields has nothing to do with preventing or even easing the number of flood events we get in Ridgewood," he said.

However, DeSimone noted that because of the "significantly enhanced drainage," flood waters drain quickly and can be in action before a grass field.

"The artificial surfaces, in my opinion, stand up better to flooding because they drain faster," he said.

The most tenuous issue in clearing the turf fields for use is removing the silt left behind by the flooding, which DeSimone said didn't entirely cover fields.

But because this is the first flood that has deposited what he called "a significant amount of silt," the district is taking what it calls the proper steps to clean the fields in a way that protects them and student athletes.

"It may take a little longer than people would like, but we are proceeding cautiously," DeSimone said.

Neighbors the district for placing the fields in a flood zone, arguing that the fields are made with crumb rubber–pieces of recycled tires they say are not properly anchored in turf–and in heavy flooding, the rubber can find its way into the brook.

Fishbein said he did not believe the fields took crumb rubber, DeSimone said the Field Turf "is a cryogenic rubber and that it is not an ecological issue," and Fields Committee member and Parks and Recreation Director Tim Cronin said crumb rubber floats, "Field Turf does not."

The Ridgewood Environmental Advisory Community, , concluded that Field Turf at Maple Park does not pose "a threat to the environment, the flood plain around the park or children, who use the field." The same material is used at Stevens and Stadium Field.

We'll update the status of the fields as information comes in.