Natural Turf Chosen to Cap Briarcliff Softball Field

A at will rely on natural materials to keep ballplayers safe from potential environmental hazards beneath their feet.

School officials voted Monday to install a natural grass solution, the least expensive of several alternative ways to address its pollution problem, including covering over the potential contaminants with asphalt or artificial turf.

In a unanimous vote, the school board formally authorized Henningson, Durham & Richardson Architecture & Engineering (HDR) to submit details of the so-called “natural-turf option” to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

The softball field and an area near the high school known as the “practice field” for more than two years after questions were raised about the quality of the fill and cover materials on which they had been constructed.

On Monday, Michael P. Musso, a senior project engineer with HDR, used cross-sections of the proposed fill as visual aids to detail two natural-turf options. In both, a rubberized open gridwork, more marker than impervious shield, is placed directly over the potential contaminants. A barrier layer of clean earth, tested for sanitary compliance, would then be added. Musso displayed cross sections with earth layers of 6- and 20-inch depths, topped by a soil layer of 4 inches in which the grass would be grown.

Some critics had urged an impervious barrier layer to firmly close off contaminants from the earth/topsoil layer. But Musso and Trustee Eric Bashford likened that solution putting a layer of dirt in a swimming pool: Lacking drainage, the dirt would turn to mud in the first substantial rain.

HDR is continuing soil testing at the practice field as well as some other, non-playing areas of the softball field like the batting cage and bleachers.

District Superintendent Neal Miller stated in a memo to the community Tuesday, "...our Board took a strong step forward by approving a remediation plan that will now be presented to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for approval. The remediation method that was approved by the Board was the natural turf option that caps the field and involves regular site monitoring."

Miller added there are three cylinders on display at the district office (same site as ) showing the different remediation option materials for public viewing from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.