STUDY AND
ASSESSMENT OF
PALO ALTO TURF SYSTEMS
City Council
November 17, 2025 www.PaloAlto.gov
BACKGROUND
Community Services manages four synthetic fields at three locations • El Camino Park (1)
• Stanford Palo Alto Community Playing Fields (Mayfield) (2) • Cubberley (1)
Turf replacement projects
• El Camino – Design - 2024/Construction – FY26 (Construction Deferred) • Mayfield – Design/Construction (In construction; Estimate Completion: Dec 2025) • Cubberley – 2028
Council directed staff to pause El Camino Park Turf Replacement Project and redirected project funding for a turf study.
TURF STUDY
Study objectives
• Evaluate turf for athletic fields
• Focus on environmental and health considerations, cost, and usability
• Adjusted scope to incorporate the SCC Public Health
Report released 1/28/25
• Case Study: El Camino Park
Combination of staff and consultant expertise provides a balanced approach of local knowledge and comprehensive
analysis.
Overall, the study will provide support for data-driven decision- making for future athletic field replacements.
TURF STUDY SCHEDULE
Project Webpage: www.PaloAlto.gov/TurfStudy
Estimated Project Schedule:
June 2025: Project Launch
July 2025: Focus Groups with Park and Recreation Commission Playing Field Ad Hoc, Field Users, and Sierra Club August 13, 2025: Draft Report Released
August 13 – September 3, 2025: Community Engagement Comment Period on Draft Report August 26, 2025: Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting (Item was not discussed, too late in the evening) September 23, 2025: Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting October 28, 2025: Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting November 17, 2025: Report and Presentation to City Council = completed
= current
PALO ALTO TURF STUDY
OVERVIEW
• Field System Types
• Playability & Carrying Capacity
• Cost
• Health and Environmental
• Draft Study Comments and Revisions
• Recommendations
PALO ALTO TURF STUDY
SYSTEMS
• Natural Grass Systems
• Synthetic Turf Systems
• Hybrid Systems
Natural Grass
(City Fields)
Natural Grass Synthetic Turf
(City Fields)
Hybrid System
Native Soil Sand Rootzone
Drainage
Aggregate Base &
Drainage
Sand Rootzone
Drainage
Synthetic & Natural Grass
PALO ALTO TURF STUDY
PLAYABILITY AND CARRYING CAPACITY
• The City’s fields are heavily programmed
throughout the year for youth leagues, adult
sports, school use, and community recreation.
• Playability is the extent to which a field reliably
supports athletic and recreational activity while
maintaining safe, consistent, and serviceable
surface conditions.
• Natural grass fields carrying capacity; maximum
amount of use a field can sustain before its
condition declines to a level deemed unacceptable
for safe or quality play.
• Synthetic Turf Fields >2,500 annual hours.
Cubberly multipurpose and Greer Fields >1,000
annual hours.
PALO ALTO TURF STUDY
COST EFFICIENCY
• Over a 20-year period and when fields meet their carrying capacity, synthetic turf provides the lowest cost per hour of use at approximately $79 per hour, while natural grass ranges between $179 and $203 per hour.
• Synthetic Turf is more expensive to build, but less expensive to maintain. • Hybrid Turf Systems have the highest combined installation and maintenance costs among all field types.
PALO ALTO TURF STUDY
HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL
• Microplastics in synthetic turf originate from both the turf fibers and the rubber or plastic infills. These microplastics enter the environment in three primary ways:
(1) by adhering to athletes and equipment, typically in the form of infill; (2) through maintenance activities such as grooming and sweeping, with collected material often disposed of as regular refuse; and
(3) via environmental forces such as rain and wind.
• Natural or organic (non-plastic) infills can reduce microplastic migration into the environment.
• PFAS thresholds are still being evaluated and cover a wide range of products. Currently there is not an industry standard for PFAS thresholds, thus “PFAS reduced” or “PFAS free” rely on testing scope, detection limits, and definitions provided by the certifying body or manufacturer.
PALO ALTO TURF STUDY
DRAFT STUDY PUBLIC COMMENTS
• 21 Unique Contributors Responded: Organizations,
Residents, and Non-Residents
• Health and Environmental Concerns: PFAS,
Microplastics, Surface Heat, and End-of-Life
Recycling. Interest in optimizing Natural Grass Fields. • Use Hour Methodology: ½ Field vs Full Field Rentals
• Recreation User Groups: Support Synthetic Turf as it
provides better Playability, Meets Program Demands,
and Flexibility
PALO ALTO TURF STUDY
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
• Synthetic turf at El Camino Park is at end of life and needs to be resurfaced or replaced with natural grass.
• Replacing with natural grass would cost $1.5m - $2m and the project would take 18 months to complete. It would also reduce the capacity of the field and programming would be impacted. • Replacing with synthetic would maintain existing program but not address health and environmental concerns.
• Consider resurfacing with synthetic turf while a pilot program is implemented to further optimize existing natural grass fields and add additional fields to inventory to maintain capacity.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff and the Parks and Recreation Commission recommend that the City Council:
1. Receive and accept the findings and recommendations of the Study and Assessment of Turf Systems for the City of Palo Alto Playing Fields; and
2. Direct staff to proceed with replacement of the synthetic turf at El Camino Park in a manner consistent with the Study’s findings and recommendations
SARAH ROBUSTELLI
Division Manager Open Space, Parks, and Golf
[email protected]
(650)617-3518
ANTHONY STEVENSON, PE
Principal at Lloyd Consulting Group
[email protected]