Fake grass vs. real deal: AstroTurf war heats up over Viera Regional Park

VIERA — Does fake grass score better in the long run than real grass for soccer, football and other sports? It depends on the goal, experts say.

Florida downpours often shift to sunny skies in an instant. But water-logged grass can sideline eager athletes for days, while artificial grass dries much faster.

So, to put youth sports and the local economy on firmer ground, the Brevard County Tourist Development Council on Wednesday moved forward with a $5 million project to convert seven natural-grass sports fields at Viera Regional Park — fields that currently cost $66,800 a year to mow and maintain — to AstroTurf. These fields are used for soccer, football and lacrosse.

The park's baseball diamonds will remain natural grass.

Money for the project will come from bonds backed by revenue generated by Brevard County's 5 percent Tourist Development Tax on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals. With interest and bonding fees, the total cost is estimated to be $6.02 million, spread over 10 years.

The project is expected to break ground in late April and be finished in August. The switch to AstroTurf brings a dramatic face-lift to one of the premier parks that helped sell voters on two massive parks referendums in 2000 and 2006.

More: USSSA hopes to hit tourism home run at Viera stadium complex

More: Viera Regional Park's $5 million AstroTurf deal OK'd after intense County Commission debate

Supporters of the plan say, with artificial-turf fields at the park, the U.S. Specialty Sports Association and the county can lure more large youth sports tournaments. That would help fill local hotels, restaurants and retail stores, boosting revenue from sales tax and the tourism tax.

AstroTurf advocates say synthetic turf also is safer for athletes because there are no holes to twist ankles in, or hardened surfaces that cause head injuries.

But natural-field advocates warn to not sell grass short. Rotating games and practices on fields and proper maintenance can yield better overall performance and environmental benefits than faux grass, they say. And some critics of artificial turf cite health uncertainties about the heat and fumes from the crumb rubber infill that softens the surface, and they say the pros often are oversold and the cons ignored.

Who pays?

As part of the deal, USSSA, which also operates the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Viera, formerly known as Space Coast Stadium, will get the use of the fields for two weeks each spring and 10 other weekends a year. In exchange, the organization will maintain the fields.

The county will pay for the AstroTurf to take advantage of its sales tax exemptions.

By a 3-2 vote March 20, Brevard County Commission approved an agreement with USSSA and The Viera Co. to move the project forward.

Commissioners Kristine Isnardi and John Tobia dissented.

Isnardi questions why the county waived its policy for issuing what's known as a "request for proposals," agreeing instead to pay a vendor directly through an agreement with USSSA.

The organization says that because of extensive dealings with the AstroTurf company, the cost of the material and labor in the project is $500,000 to $1.3 million less than what the county would have gotten going on the open market.

In a subsequent interview, Tobia said he also has a number of other concerns about the deal, including:

• USSSA has made no guarantees about how many nights of hotel room rentals its events at Viera Regional Park will bring to the county.

• There was no cost-benefit analysis done on the deal.

• He didn't receive the proposed contract until 24 hours before the vote, leaving little time for him to review it.

"I just need one reason to vote 'no,' " Tobia said, noting that any one of these would be a deal-killer for him.

Tobia suggested redirecting the tourist tax money to Indian River Lagoon environmental cleanup projects.

His concerns — as well as what Tobia says are other discrepancies in the documents — could come up again in May, when the County Commission is scheduled to vote on approving the bond and lender for this project.

Attorney initiated pitch

The deal was originally pitched by Rockledge attorney Kendall Moore, whose 15-year-old son plays soccer at the park as part of the Space Coast United Soccer Club program.

Moore — who also is active in political consulting work — said he became aware of the Space Coast Office of Tourism's plan to vet proposed capital projects that would generate tourism revenue and could be paid for with the tourism tax.

So Moore crafted a proposal for converting the seven grass fields at Viera Regional Park to artificial turf. He said he felt it would help the local sports teams that play there by improving playing conditions and decreasing cancellations due to soggy fields, as well as help the local tourism industry, by attracting teams from other areas to play in tournaments there.

Brevard County Commissioner Curt Smith, whose district includes Viera, said Moore approached him with the idea, and Smith liked the plan.

"I said: 'Go for it,' " Smith said.

Smith later became the "project sponsor," which is required under the Space Coast Office of Tourism project application procedures to be the county manager, a county commissioner or a Tourist Development Council member.

Last August, Moore contributed $1,000 to Smith's 2018 re-election campaign, as did Donald DeDonatis, chief executive officer of USSSA.

But Smith said those contributions have no connection to his support of this project.

Smith said he has voted against projects backed by some of his campaign contributors in the past.

"The project is either right or wrong," Smith said, believing the Viera Regional Park project is right for the community.

Moore also said there was no link between his contribution to Smith's campaign and Smith's support for the project.

Moore said he was not paid by USSSA or any other entity for his work on this project.

Moore said his interest is "what's best for the community and best for the kids."

Craig Scriven, vice president of field sports for USSSA, defends the project against its critics.

"We're going to create a sports capital in the Viera area," Scriven said, with the stadium complex and the Viera Regional Park.

"It's a no-brainer," Scriven said. "The time is right to move on this to get the biggest bang for the buck. Residents are going to get this wonderful facility for the right price."

Addressing safety

Space Coast Office of Tourism Executive Director Eric Garvey disputes the safety concerns some raise about AstroTurf. He said that while older versions of artificial turf created a hard playing surface and had their detractors, that has changed.

Garvey, who played soccer at Oglethorpe University in Georgia, said he initially had some questions about the safety issue, recalling the past concerns in soccer circles.

"But I became convinced it was the right way to go," Garvey said. "The AstroTurf is softer than the Georgia red clay I used to play on."

But debate has been raging for years about whether synthetic turf causes any health risks. The AstroTurf includes a rubber and sand "infill" to soften the surface.

While the turf avoids fertilizers and pesticides, some forms of rubber infill used on artificial turf fields can emit toxic compounds that some researchers and environmental groups have raised concerns about potential long-term health risks from breathing the fumes.

Synthetic turf industry advocates point to dozens of studies that show the turf is safe.

Scriven, who also is assistant women's soccer coach at Creighton University in Nebraska, said his team plays 90 percent of its matches on artificial grass.

Smith said if AstroTurf is "really unhealthy, it wouldn't be out there" on sports fields throughout the country.

Sports tourism draw

Scriven said USSSA hopes to use the two weeks of use during spring break to hold spring training "sports camps" on the fields for high school and college soccer and lacrosse teams coming to Viera from other parts of the country. The weekend dates during other time periods would be used for youth tournaments.

Garvey said he expects the training events and the tournaments to draw additional business for the local tourism sector, including hotels, retailers, restaurants and tourism attractions.

But Tobia points out there is no guarantee in the Viera Regional Park deal on how many nights of hotel room rentals the events would attract.

That contrasts with a previous deal between USSSA and the county, under which USSSA took over operations on the Space Coast Stadium complex and received $10 million from the county to help pay for AstroTurf and lighting at the complex, now known as the USSSA Space Coast Complex.

In return, USSSA agreed to pay for the remainder of the renovations, amounting to more than $20 million, and to guarantee that its events there would generate 75,000 hotel rooms for each of the first three years of operation, then 100,000 room nights a year after that.

Moore said the USSSA events at Viera Regional Park could generate 17,000 to 25,000 nights of room rentals a year, based on anticipated use of the fields by teams from outside the area here for tournaments or sports camps.

Assuming an average room rental cost of $100 a night, that would generate $5 a night of tourist tax, or a total of $85,000 to $125,000 a year.

But the upfront cost dwarfs annual maintenance savings.

The Brevard County Parks and Recreation Department spends $66,800 a year maintaining the seven fields at Viera Regional that would be converted to AstroTurf.

"It enhances the fields for use year-round for the citizens and children that live in Brevard County," Parks and Recreation Director Mary Ellen Donner said, in explaining an advantage of the plan.

"I don't necessarily look at it as losing money," Donner said. "It's gaining an asset."

Jason Kruse, associate professor of turf grass science at the University of Florida in Gainesville, said it would be "difficult to make a synthetic field cost less over the lifespan of the field than the natural field. It is such a high cost, that if you look at it from a critical standpoint and an objective standpoint, it's hard to justify."

Natural grass fields can handle a lot of wear and tear, Kruse added, but the key to it is that they need to be managed properly. He's not opposed to use of artificial turf in the right circumstances: especially where field managers cannot feasibly maintain a safe, natural field.

"We're really lucky in Florida because we can grow Bermuda grass," Kruse said. "Bermuda grass is really, really tough."

The synthetic turf industry and other advocates assert that artificial turf has environmental benefits, such as eliminating fertilizer and pesticide use. And fake grass doesn't need water to live.

"I would not say it's a net positive for the environment," UF's Kruse said. "That's a hard argument to make, in my opinion."

And fake fields don't always save water, either, he added. When artificial turf heats up to temperatures as high as 180 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, field managers periodically spay water on the turf to cool it down.

Soccer group 'ecstatic'

But the sports groups that use the park are looking forward to the new turf.

"We are ecstatic," said Scott Armstrong, director of coaching with Space Coast United Soccer Club. He said the club lost 50 days because the fields got soggy after rainy weather.

"They flood constantly, especially when it rains," Armstrong said. "They were fairly unbalanced."

The Suntree Viera Youth Football League, which also endorses the project, missed about 45 days of games and practices last year due to bad weather "because the condition of the field was often adversely affected for several days at a time," the group said in an a letter to the county.

"The new turf and drainage system will significantly decrease missed practices, game delays and schedule changes," Suntree Viera Youth Football League President Chad Vice said in his letter. "We are excited to practice and play at new state-of-the-art fields."

But fake grass isn't for everybody.

"I'm personally not a big fan of turf," said Udo Shenatzky, president of the Viera-Suntree Soccer Club, referring to how hot synthetic turf can get.

He's glad his club opted to play elsewhere, on natural grass at Suseda Park off Murrell Road in Viera.

"It's too crowded," he said of Viera Regional Park.

On a recent day, Josh Winn, 17, of West Melbourne, tapped around a soccer ball during a Space Coast United Soccer Club practice. The fields were scarred with lumpy patches of sand to mask the many bald spots. Crusty brown grass surrounds the fields.

Winn hopes to kick around on artificial turf, soon.

"We don't really have to worry about potholes and everything, and everybody thinks it will still hurt, when sliding, and it does, but we'll get used to it."

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Turf war heats up over $5 million fake grass project at Viera park