Synthetic Turf, Parking, Sound Discussed for New Hingham HS Fields

The Long Range Planning and Ad Hoc Fields Study Committee met Tuesday night to listen to suggestions  from local engineering firms who discussed plans for the new athletic track and fields.

No final plans have been set in place yet, but Gale Associates of Weymouth engineering firm discussed the advantages of synthetic fields, the possibility of lights and a sound study.

Fields

Without being biased towards any final decisions, Bill Seymour, an engineer at Gale Associates said synthetic fields may be the best option for the high school.

Seymour said Synthetic  turf is a safer option for athletes.  According to Seymour, studies have shown synthetic fields to be as safe as a high quality standard grass fields and even more safe than typical grass field. 

“It enhances safety and improves the overall quality,” Seymour said.

In his presentation, Seymour also pointed out the advantages of maintaining a synthetic field.

He said synthetic fields will eliminate flooding as they can drain up to 15-16 inches of rain per hour and will cost less overtime. Grass fields cost up to $25,000 to $35,000 to maintain each year due to the cost of fertilizer and lawn mowing while synthetic turfs only need to be groomed up to four times a year, Gale Engineering said.

Seymour also worried that natural turf fields would not be as environmentally friendly due to pesticide run–off.

Although it is a possibility that HHS could see a synthetic field,  The Fields Committee did note that a multi-purpose synthetic field would not be able to fit within the track-area.

Sound and Light

Gale Associates said their engineering firm has never had a sound test conducted before for the construction of fields, but it will be done for Hingham High School.   To prevent noise complaints from neighbors, the Weymouth engineering firm will bring in an expert to make sure the new fields are sound-friendly.

Gale did not get into much detail about lights, but said the new fields would allow lights to easily be installed at any time and said the brightness would be able to be controlled.

Parking

A traffic engineer from Norwell engineering firm, Coler & Colan Antonio suggested that minor changes have to be made to the Hingham High School parking area when the new fields are constructed.

“It’s well managed from what we saw,” said John Morgan, a Traffic Engineer at C&C.

Morgan said it would not be wise to add extra pavement for parking, as it will just take up field space.

 “ If you’re trying to prepare for the worse case scenario,  you’ll use a lot of pavement for something that rarely gets used,” he said to the committee.

Coler & Colan Antonio conducted a study at the high school in the Fall by counting vehicles during school dismissal and arrival, during a busy Saturday afternoon when there was soccer games and SAT courses held at the High School, and during last November’s  Veterans Day football game under the lights.

Morgan said during a typical school day, there is plenty of parking available and he suggested no changes should be made for school arrival and dismissal.

“They seem to work really well,” he said.

During a Saturday afternoon, Morgan said a lot of vehicles illegally parked by the soccer fields on Union Street, despite there being open spaces in the school parking area.  He suggested that the “No Parking Signs” be brought closer to the street as they may not be visible to some drivers.

At a larger event like the Veterans Day football game, Morgan said there were over 150 extra vehicles that had to park on the athletic fields.  Morgan suggested that when the high school plans large events, it should be the only event at the high school that night.

Morgan did stress that it is not worth building a larger parking area for a once-a-year event like the Veterans Day event.

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The Long Range Planning and Ad Hoc Fields Study Committee is expected to meet again on March 27.