Astroturf at Dahl field came up at the public meeting night (October 5th, 2017).
So that everyone is informed, here is more information on the request by U. Prep. to petition Council member Robert Johnson for an astroturf at Dahl field.
We did an open records request for communication between U Prep and Seattle City Council member Rob Johnson. We did this because Johnson is our neighborhood representative on the City council. After he initially refused to meet with us, we learned that he was a trustee of U prep while the expansion was being planned.
(*** Council member Johnson has subsequently reached out to his constituents as of October 13, 2017 to arrange a meeting (October 30th) with staff from the Mayor's office, given his own personal recusal. He indicated that he wanted to ensure we had adequate representation. ***)
Attached below is the most pertinent email that came from that open records request. (Of course anyone can ask a Council member to do anything and the Council member gets to decide if he wants to do it.) After reading the email, however, we know that U Prep asked Rob Johnson to meet with them about getting astroturf at Dahl field and he agreed.
We asked for a meeting. At first, his office said the council had no authority in land use matters. Then he recused himself. He is a land use planner that ran on affordability and transit. So we initially thought he would meet with us and give us some guidance but apparently his guidance is reserved for U Prep. As evidenced by this statement from U prep to Council member Johnson:
"We appreciate your [Council member Johnson's] strong interest in Dahl and your feedback to our ideas, as we try to understand the process for moving this project forward. "
We feel that this was just another example of U Prep out to get what it wants no matter what. As neighbors, we believe that U Prep wants astro turf so that it can host more tournaments, make more money, recruit more high schoolers and have more late evening-night games.
U Prep prides it self on its athletic program. They have several fall, winter and spring men and women sports. The traffic and parking impacts of their current athletic schedule have an impact on the neighborhood. Astroturf will increase traffic parking and noise impacts.
On Friday afternoon 10/6, there was some kind of private high school tournament going on. It was impossible to park at Dahl Field or the "Public Parking spaces," in front of U Prep on NE 80TH ST, or on 25th Ave NE. So much for bringing your child to the playground or a little one to soccer practice. This happens on many, many Fridays.
There are safety and environmental concerns associated with astro-turf. The safety issues are particularly concerning for young children but U prep is only thinking about high schoolers. The safety and environmental issues are controversial. However, we hope that astro-turfing Dahl field would require and environmental impact study and neighborhood notification.
We also heard questions at the public meeting (October 5th) about weather U Prep pays for use of the field during the day. On Public Information requests made for documents between U Prep and the Seattle Parks Department, we only saw that they pay for field use for reserved games. We did not see that they pay for day use.
The Astro-turf is not directly related to concerns about the building, but to us neighbors, it does indicate that U Prep will do whatever they can to get what they want without regard to the neighborhood. For example, did they bother contacting any of us neighbors to consult?