With A Turf Field Ban Being Considered, Board Of Health To Hold Roundtable Discussion On Monday

The Nantucket Board of Health will hear arguments for and against the use of artificial turf on Monday. The special meeting was scheduled after the board announced it would consider an island-wide ban on turf in the wake of a School Committee vote supporting an athletic facilities upgrade that includes installing an artificial turf field at Vito Capizzo Stadium.

The meeting is intended as an informative, fact-gathering session to help the Board of Health make its decision, with subject-matter experts discussing the benefits and risks of turf. It may provide an early indication of how board members are leaning, but Board of Health chair Ann Smith has said that there will not be a vote until the Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting at the earliest.

Artificial turf has been at the center of one of the most heated debates on the island since the School Committee initially endorsed an athletic facilities overhaul with a natural grass turf last September. The decision sparked intense pushback from concerned parents, coaches, and student-athletes who claimed that artificial turf can withstand far greater use before posing an injury risk and would provide a safer, higher-quality playing surface for students.

Under pressure, the School Committee reversed its decision and endorsed an artificial turf playing field. But while the vast majority of the community members who spoke at the School Committee’s meetings supported turf, there were also some vocal dissenters, including Board of Health member Meredith Lepore, who has made her opposition to turf clear.

The criticisms raised by Lepore and others opposed to turf are reminiscent of those raised when the School Committee first considered and ultimately discarded an earlier version of the athletic facilities upgrade, which opted for turf over natural grass. At the time, worries about PFAS, the toxic so-called “forever chemicals” linked to cancer and other health problems that have already been found in dangerously high quantities at many of Nantucket’s private drinking water wells, led the School Committee to abandon the project.

Those concerns have now resurfaced. At least some artificial turf fields contain PFAS, which can leach into the aquifer and affect drinking water. Turf fields are also made of plastic, which can be difficult to recycle and poses its own environmental hazards, both through local pollution and the emissions associated with its production. Some opponents also disagree that turf is better for athletes, citing evidence suggesting that many professional athletes prefer to play on grass and believe turf to be inferior.

The School Committee has promised to test the turf installed on Nantucket to ensure it contains no intentionally added PFAS. The specific lot of turf meant to be shipped to Nantucket will be tested, and if the tests show PFAS, it won’t be used. Representatives of the Nantucket Public Schools, including Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett, have also emphasized that the proposed facilities upgrade goes far beyond the turf field, also featuring a new track, buildings, and accessibility improvements.

However, the tests proposed for the field can’t detect all PFAS, and while some manufacturers claim their products are PFAS-free, some are skeptical of their claims.

The Board of Health is now set to adjudicate whether or not the School Committee’s proposed turf field will be allowed. If they vote to ban turf, it will amount to an extremely rare instance of one of Nantucket’s major governmental boards overruling another.

The Board of Health meeting is being held on Monday, March 2nd at 2 p.m. in the community room at the town's Public Safety Facility at 4 Fairgrounds Road. The public may also participate or listen remotely via Zoom by clicking this link.