sod does work! but maybe if they"football" would stay off the field and let the sod take root it would work. how many times you go past the field after a rain and football is on the field. looks like to me they do that just to get what they want

nooooooooooooooooooooo, republican town, and nooooooooooooo more spending, cut, cut, cut,,,,,republicans will cut, NOT spend. thats what they promised.

Here we go again. Weren't we having this argument just a couple of years ago. Here's what I would like to know -- who stands to benefit financially from installation of turf, and what connection do said people have to local government?

Way too much money to be spent. How about investing in some rakes, top soil and volunteers such as the parents of the kids using the field to keep the field in good condition.

1,000 kids a year? That leaves over 8,000 residents that don't use the field. This is not part of the cost of educating the kids which is mandated and we all took advantage of. We are talking about activities for your kids. When my daughter grew up in town she took dancing classes. Did I ask the tax payers to pay for that? No. Why should I pay for your kids activities? 1.8 million is a lot of money during these difficult ecomonic times. An artificial turf isn't raising my property value. That's pure voodo ecomonics

If i am not mistaken, the money has been in the capital budget for years now and has not been spent. Use it. A project of this type that is allocated should not raise taxes at all.

One visit to see the field conditions in person would make it clear to all that the Memorial Field is unsafe. Seeding or sod could work but only if the field was used part-time and was afforded the time to recover. Unfortunately this is the only lighted field in the township so providing seasonal downtime for recovery would not be an option. In addition, the current lighting system is inefficient (yes, that means inefficient use of taxpayer dollars) and the lighting does not meet current standards for lighting of playing surfaces.

The field will not need to be mowed, fertilized or watered - with instant $$$ savings compounded over the life of the turf. It will not need to be closed for renovation each year. It will not be affected by bad weather and will be able to be used 365 days a year, 7 days a week. Seems like a no brainer.

I like the idea of artificial turf! It's bold! It's big and it's the future! Do you residents want Washington Township to be perceived as an "old fashioned" town? Heck NO! Let's go for the artificial turf. But don't stop there! Why not a dome? With a retractable roof! When its sunny we can open it and enjoy the weather, but in the bad weather we can close it and shut out the rain and the cold. Oh yes! Washington Township of the Future! We can play in the shadow of our cell phone tower and if anybody gets hurt on our artificial turf field, dont worry; we have a drive through pharmacy right down the road!

One more thing. Isn't Memorial Field a "Green Acres " field meaning anybody in the state of NJ can use it? Great, we spend 1.8 mil on this and that does not include maint and don't tell me there is no maint, for any town to just bring a school bus full of kids and say have at it.

I really do not understand when someone says that their children do not use the rec facilities or they do not have children that they should have to support other families’ use of the facilities. You have decided to live in a town in which all people pay to support services regardless of whether we use them or not. You may never need the fire or police department, but you still pay taxes to support them. Because I have a car, should I be allowed to opt out of helping pay for buses for seniors, I do not think so. A turf field will improve the value of your real estate as families with children will consider an improved Memorial field as an asset to the community and not an eyesore. When citizens decide that they should only be concerned with what interests them, we are no longer a community, just a bunch of people living in the same area.

township resident is right if the field is unsafe do not use it. if the lighting is bad play day games. again if football would stay off the field and let the sod take hold no problem's. but alas the rec machine will get what they want, all the future N F L players can say the got thier start in good old WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

Almost all towns surrounding Washington township have turf fields for use by their recreation departments. For towns without, most use the HS field for free. Our board of Ed charges $24,000 for three months of use (and this is discounted???). Also, please give the "football is evil" argument a rest, it lends nothing to the discussion. The field is in use almost 3/4 of the year.

While no one wants to spend money........Seems it’s pretty obvious that sod on THAT field does not work. You already have volunteer parents who not only rake but coach as well. This is one of those times when some money needs to be spent. Do you want a town where young families continue to move in? Do you want your property values to keep par with surrounding communites? Remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. Money spent on a artificial turf field would have HUGE returns in the end for our entire community.

ok now that the high school is not use'n the A field use that one. Where is the madness go'na end, all the other town's have turf we NEED it to. NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing, only a couple of people have the guts to use their real names here. I'm hearing an additional $135,000 a year to pay off the bond, not sure how many years the bond is and what is the life expectancy of the turf. Anyway it's been stated 1,000 kids use the field, how about those families chipping in an additional 50 to 100 bucks a year and it then becomes fair and you get your turf. Money is needed for a new fire truck in this town, money is needed by the ambulance corp but "Oh my God" we have to have a turf field. Fine then but surely these parents could afford to cough up a few more bucks so their kids have the best of the best

WHO IS THIS FIELD REALY FOR???? the kid's NO, THE PARENT'S no, it's for the coaches. let's spend not my money but the tax payer's money for a name plate for thier E G O' S all the other town's built thier field's when time's wer good!!!!

I love the NFL argument...HOW TRUE! Sports in these towns gets everything and anything they want. Look at River Vale, MILLIONS spent on turf, on a field that was perfectly good before. Now they light it up like a christmas tree every night with huge towers of floodlights. Who pays for THAT? Indeed, the poor taxpayers...
As usual, sports get it all at the expense of all others...A sad state of reality in small-minded NJ towns. Be smart and use the high school field....spend the money on more important things...

Yes, lets have the families who use the field pay for it......Im not paying for your kids to play football when there are MUCH better ways to spend our tax dollars.....ever hear of music? How many of those kids will go on to play football? NONE!!

We should not be paying for your field...lets have the parents and coaches cover that cost, not US! There are SO many better ways to spend our tax dollars....ever hear of music? No, why would we spend on THAT, when these kids need a million plus to play football. How many of them will go on to play after they go to college..NONE, thats how many!

Whether or not any of the kids go onto to pro sports is irrelevant. The town needs to provide ADEQUATE facilities for recreation programs (including those for adults and non-athletes) regardless of whether or not its grass, turf, indoor faciltiies whatever. What's in question here is the lack of recreation and field master planning by the current and previous administrations which is how we got into this mess.

Also - based on Mr. Kim's "pay to play" suggestion, all those who do not use the public library, senior center, etc.. shouldn't have to pay for those. Heck why stop there? If you don't use the fire dept or ambulance corp or the school system in town should you not pay for those either? That would be ridiculous. If you don't want to live in a "community" based town then I suggest you look into moving elsewhere.

Valid points Twp Resident! But I still dont feel its a wise use of our tax funds....plus we have to light the field every night. Have you ever seen River Vales field? They must have 15 huge towers of lights there, packed with bulbs blazing away. We shake our head every time we go by...Can you imagine that electricity bill? I dont want to pay that here..

Mr. Kim, I can understand your concern but understand that we are already paying the electricity bill for the lights at memorial. In fact, new lights would be much better as they would provide better lighting and are much more efficient to run. I would guess that the new lights would be cheaper to run that the current lights which do not even meet today's standards for field lighting. Unfortunately the town is in a tough spot. The cheaper, and more tax friendly alternative is grass its been shown that it won't hold up to the amount of use the field gets and then we would be installing sod over and over again. Its too bad that we only have the one lighted field, otherwise grass would work because the town could close Memorial Field during certain seasons to recover. Without an alternate, lighted field there is no option to allow Memorial the needed time to recover. I have no real skin in the game since my oldest is in the high school and my youngest will be up at the high school next year and therefore neither will make use of the town fields. I would just like to see a realistic master plan put in place and the fields maintained (turf or grass) in such a way that we don't get into this situation again.