Complex to get turf upgrade despite worries

Artificial turf at the Glendale Sports Complex that is nearly a decade old will be replaced following approval by the Glendale City Council on Tuesday, though potential, yet unconfirmed, cancer concerns linger over a rubber component from which the material is made.

Artificial turf was first installed at the sports facility in 2005 and has since suffered wear and tear throughout its expected 10- to 12-year life span, said Public Works Director Roubik Golanian during the meeting.

Council members voted 3-1 in favor of awarding a $877,705 contract to Marietta, Ga.-based Sprinturf, which carried out the initial installation. Councilman Ara Najarian was not at the meeting.

The new turf is slated to be installed in January.

Councilwoman Laura Friedman voted against the project not because she was necessarily opposed to artificial turf at places such as the sports complex, but she said she needed to see some studies showing the grass-field alternative doesn’t bear any negative health effects.

“We need to take the time to vet these kinds of things,” she said in a phone interview after the meeting.

NBC News did a story earlier this month on Amy Griffin, a University of Washington soccer coach who put together a list of nearly 40 American soccer players that played on artificial-turf fields and have been diagnosed with cancer.

The concern is over a material used in artificial turf known as “crumb rubber,” which is made up of recycled tires, but there aren’t any studies that link it to cancer.

Though he didn’t have any research on hand, Mike Mirante, a sales representative with Sprinturf, said many studies have been done to disprove any connection between artificial turf and the disease.

“We would not put anything out there that would harm our children or our athletes,” he said.

But Friedman said she would have liked to have seen some of those studies prior to casting a vote.

The crumb rubber is a cushion beneath the grass blades that’s aimed at improving safety, Mirante said.

Pieces of it do tear off in the form of pellets and can stick to clothes and cleats, he said.

Friedman then asked how much of the material that breaks away could end up in storm drains.

City Manager Scott Ochoa said it’s a relatively small amount.

Councilman Dave Weaver said he wasn’t too worried about artificial-turf pellets ending up in runoff water.

“Every car on the street generally has four tires and they’re leaving rubber on the streets, which are going into the flood-control channels and into the ocean, more so than the pellets on an athletic field,” he said.

In 2011, a study by an environmental testing firm found that levels of lead in the sports complex’s turf was far below federal and state limits.