Turf wars

>> Westmounters fume over the future
of its popular park

TOO POPULAR FOR ITS OWN GOOD: Westmount Park

by TRACEY LINDEMAN

Westmount Park is going to get a facelift for better or for worse, depending on how the city responds to the severe deterioration and overuse of its two soccer fields. The city is looking at alternative playing surfaces to accommodate a maxed-out soccer program, but a group of outspoken citizens would have the city install synthetic turf in Westmount Park over their dead bodies.

During the summer, the two soccer fields in Westmount Park are used for 70 hours a week, though they can only withstand a third of that, according to city officials and their panel of consultants. Extreme weather and the trampling of Westmount Park schoolchildren’s feet and those enrolled in the soccer program are the main causes of the deterioration.

“I’ve rarely seen a municipality that goes to such lengths to [maintain] its fields,” said sports surfaces consultant François Hébert at last month’s public consultation meeting. Still, Westmount can’t keep up with the demand—with over 1,000 kids enrolled in the summer program and another 100 or so on the waiting list, the clock is ticking for city council to make a decision.

“Westmount has done very well by doing things differently,” says Patrick Barnard of Save the Park!, a citizens’ group opposed to the use of synthetic turf. “I personally believe that Westmount has a great asset in that it’s completely synthetic-free.” He describes the park from his perch on Melville Avenue as a “Walt Whitman-esque scene” that would be tainted by the presence of synthetic turf. Barnard and other Westmount residents are also concerned over aesthetics, safety and the environment.

“If I wanted to live in a plastic, modernistic world, I’d go live in Laval or Brossard!” exclaimed one resident at May’s public consultation meeting. In reality, he needn’t stray so far—several playing surfaces in Montreal are upholstered with synthetic turf, including Jeanne-Mance Park, Molson Stadium and Riverside Park in LaSalle, among others. Most of these fields are manufactured by the Montreal-based FieldTurf, and are composed of the crumbs of almost 30,000 recycled tires each.

But FieldTurf president Jean Prevost feels like Public Enemy No. 1 these days, especially after nearly four hours of allegations at the public consultation meeting. “It’s tough to take,” he says. “We care about the environment. We can’t be socially irresponsible.” Prevost has over 2,500 surfaces worldwide, and the company is currently working on a method to recycle old ones, which have a lifespan of around 20 years.

Although a resilient rubber surface is attractive to municipalities looking to extend their playing seasons, a 2004 Texas A&M university study calls for a closer look at athletic injuries incurred on artificial turf. Synthetic fields also absorb a lot of heat during the summer and need to be cooled down during peak hours; however, they don’t require fertilizers, paint or much maintenance.

The natural grass option for Westmount Park has its own problems—an imposing and decidedly un-Walt Whitman-esque chain-link fence would be erected around the fields to drastically curb usage. Some residents even expressed a desire to cap the number of players in the soccer program to preserve the fields. For 17-year-old Westmount soccer player and synthetic turf advocate Martha Chertkow, that’s just unacceptable, especially with rising obesity rates.

“Basically, we’re telling the children of Westmount to go watch TV while our fields grow,” she says. “There’s a big movement to save the park, but for God’s sake, save the children first.”