By There’s a polarizing issue in the Highlands Park neighborhood of San Carlos these days, and it has to do with the potential to install artificial turf at the neighboring park.
How does this affect homes and home values? Since everything under the sun has to be disclosed when selling a house, here’s a simplified after-effect of installing artificial turf in a public park:
- Turf on athletic fields at public park = Year round sports instead of seasonal
- Year round sports = Constant soccer, baseball, basketball games going on year round
- Constant games going on = Lots of cars parking on streets in front of homes
- Lots of cars parking on streets = Impact on ‘peace and quiet’ of neighborhood
- No peace and quiet = Perceived value of homes goes down
- Home values going down = Local residents do not want artificial turf
In the SJ Merc the other day was this article. Here are some of the salient highlights from the article:
With San Carlos poised to start installing artificial turf at Highlands Park today, a group of residents who sued to block the project say the city is taking a big risk by breaking ground before a judge has ruled on the lawsuit.
They say the city shouldn’t start the project until a San Mateo County Superior Court judge weighs in on the lawsuit filed by Save San Carlos Parks, which argues the city didn’t properly review the new field’s potential environmental effects on health and traffic. Judge Marie Weiner is expected to rule by Aug. 25.
If Weiner decides the city must do further environmental work, it will have to pause construction and leave the park unusable and in a state of disrepair indefinitely, said Greg Harris, a member of the residents’ group. He said it’s worth waiting another two weeks for a ruling on a project that was conceived a decade ago.
City officials counter that they could take a financial hit if they don’t proceed with installing turf, which has been done without controversy in other Peninsula cities but has been one of the hottest topics in San Carlos for years.
Officials say the $1.7 million bid from Interstate Grading and Paving, which the city council accepted in February, is an exceptionally low price due to a job-hungry construction industry and an Italian turf manufacturer who is offering a discount to break into the American market.
Harris dismissed the cost argument, saying it’s possible the city could get the same bid or an even lower one if it advertises the project again after the judge’s decision.
The city plans to fence off the 3.5-acre lower athletic field at Highlands Park today for site preparation work. Excavation and grading work will start next week, said Public Works Director Robert Weil. If all goes well, the project will be finished by the end of the year.
Weil acknowledged that the park will be unusable if the city has to pause construction to do further environmental studies, which could take months, but he said officials will ensure the park doesn’t pose a hazard.
Proponents say the artificial surface will lower maintenance costs and allow the field to be used year-round. The grass fields, on the other hand, must periodically be closed so they can recover from heavy use.
But opponents have said the extra use allowed by the new surface will bring more traffic to the neighborhood. They also had objected to the use of rubber pellets between the grass blades, though the city has since decided to use an organic infill instead to address those concerns.
“We’re not going to delay a project that will benefit thousands of people because a small neighborhood group has filed a lawsuit against us,” Klein said.
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