Clarity on the Turf
By Silver Springer • May 14th, 2007 • Category: Business and Economic Development, Exclusives
Here is a letter that was to the Silver Spring Scene by Rob Farley of Synthetic Turf International (makers of the turf). This should clear things up about what you read and heard previously.
…I actually sold the county the current turf out of our office here in South Florida . Our company then sent a crew up to Silver Spring to perform the installation.
Just a point of clarification, I never said that the county chose the “cheapest stuff on earth.†It is actually a very high quality surface, but it isn’t meant to withstand the traffic it has had. The current turf is actually a putting green surface, not filled all the way with sand. If we had kept filling it, Silver Spring would have the world’s largest putting green. They had a budget and that particular variety of turf was what made sense for all concerned. I never imagined it would still be here 21 months later. That wasn’t the plan.
The “black pellets†you refer to in the sample is actually granulated rubber (ground up car tires). Rubber granules are used to darken up the turf and to provide cushion. The NFL (or any football or soccer organization) prefers ALL rubber and NO sand because it provides even MORE cushion, making it a safer playing field. Rubber granules were left out intentionally (by us) in the installation of the current turf because of cigarette concerns. While a cigarette won’t start a fire on a field even filled with rubber, the rubber will slightly melt until the cigarette burns itself out. We felt a sand only installation made more sense at the time.
As to cleaning, the turf needs to be brushed – regularly. The county has a proposal on their table for us to come brush it and repair any damaged seams, but I am starting to get the feeling that they don’t want it to look good – for obvious reasons. I realize this turf will be gone in September, but I’d like it to be cleaned up for the summer months.
As I told Evan, the county office has been very good to us (actually the engineers, namely Don Scheureman). I’m sorry I had to “step on their toes†by even sending that sample, but increasingly I’ve seen our products and our business misrepresented by people that don’t do their research or don’t understand what we do. Is the turf dirty? Yes. It needs to be cleaned regularly and brushed. But it isn’t “cheap.†If it was cheap, it never would have survived all it has survived. It was simply an inexpensive, TEMPORARY solution.
Rob Farley
Synthetic Turf International
Jupiter, FL
Silver Springer is
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Great letter. Thanks for publishing the letter on your blog. I hope this letter reaches many readers and citizens of Silver Spring.
That’s quality blogging. Good info.
This is a Silver Spring question totally unrelated to the post above. I have a car full of donations that I tried to take to the Goodwill donation box at the Safeway at Four Corners, but the box has been removed. There’s a box at the BP for another charity, but it says clothes only and I have some household stuff as well as clothes. Does anyone know of a drop off box or point for any of the charities (Goodwill, Purple Heart, AmVets, etc) here in Silver Spring or adjacent communities? I checked with Goodwill and they told me to drive up to Gaithersburg or to the facility on S. Dakota, NE.
Terry, Why don’t you take it to Georgia Ave Thrift Stores (an AmVets facility, I believe) on GA ave (6101) in DC? That’s where I’ve always taken our stuff!
Unfortunately, this is the closest…
Goodwill Industries - locator.goodwill.org
4890 Boiling Brook Pkwy, Rockville - (301) 881-0744
The existing “green†artificial turf space is approximately 31,000 square feet of unfettered, highly flexible open space that varies from 100 to 150 feet wide and averages about 210 feet in length. The proposed plaza with it’s large roof and rows of trees leaves only about 10,050 square feet of open, unroofed, and un-stepped surface for its main plaza. This main area averages only 40 foot wide (about the length of three small cars) for most of its length.
On May 5th, the county officials marked out on the existing turf the outline of the civic building and the footprint of the proposed pavilion roof. The officials did not chalk out the line between what will be open plaza and the area that is to be the Veterans Memorial, which will be comprised of paired rows of trees, planters and benches on either side of the main walkway to the civic building. They also did not mark out the line at which the entire plaza surface is to step four steps down to the rink level. These omissions left the impression that the area between the pavilion roof and Ellsworth Avenue was going to be open plaza. In fact, the open plaza area between the step-down in the plaza and the tree planters is quite narrow, and the open sky space between the proposed roof and the proposed tree canopy averages only about 40 feet.
The overall area in front of the civic building is approximately 31,200 square feet in size (excluding the 1600 square feet that is under roof at the building portico). This overall square footage is divided for use as follows:
-the planted bank and steps that slope down to Ellsworth Avenue are approximately 3,500 square feet in area.
-the Veterans Memorial area, with its paired rows of trees, planters and benches and the walkway to the civic building adds up to another 3,500 square feet.
-approximately 2,450 square feet of area is devoted to planting, steps and transitions in the surface to allow access from the Fenton Street sidewalk.
-the ice rink itself appears to be only 5,250 square feet, but the total area of steps, ramps and circulation path around the rink comes to approximately 6000 more square feet. In other words, approximately 11,200 square feet of area is recessed down 20 inches from the main plaza level to accommodate the 5,250 square foot rink. This division of the plaza in half, into two levels, is all due to the purported need for access to a skate rental and equipment space below Adega.
-the amount of square footage that remains open, without trees or roof, for the main plaza level is only approximately 10,050 square feet out of the overall 31,200 square feet. This main level is wrapped around the rink and is only 30 feet wide at its narrow point between the row of tree planters and the steps down to the rink level. This main open plaza is 1150 square feet less than the area used for the rink and access to the rink and skate rental space.
-There are approximately 600 more square feet of planted areas around the plaza.
The pavilion roof, over the ice rink is approximately 6,920 square feet. As was clearly demonstrated on the projection screen at the May 5 hearing, the glazing material does cast solid shadows. Despite claims to the contrary, during the winter, when the sun is low and rises and sets further to the south, the pavilion roof will cast shadow over substantial portions of the open plaza until approximately 3:00 in the afternoon. If this assessment is not accurate, the applicant for the project can easily dispel it by sharing with the community the sun/shadow studies for the winter months. Thus far the studies have not been made public.
Thank you.
sorry for the long wait Jaime, it’s the spamOnator again.
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Thank.