As part of an evaluation of the district’s needs, the Hastings School District administration is considering addressing the issue of insufficient athletic playing fields by installing artificial turf at the Burke Estate. The proposed turf at the Burke Estate is part of a broader Capital Bond Proposal that will be voted on by Hastings residents in May 2025 after its approval by the Board of Education.
New York State provides capital bonds to assist school districts with funding long-term renovation projects that are too expensive to be paid for by the district’s operating budget. The cost of a capital bond is repaid by taxing the residents of the district. The Hastings School District has used bonds in the past to fund projects like the Hillside addition and renovations to the Farragut Auditorium and the music rooms in the Farragut Complex.
To formulate proposals for artificial turf fields, the district’s administration is working closely with architecture and engineering design firms such as the LA Group and LAN Associates. These firms have worked with many other districts in Westchester County including Dobbs Ferry, Scarsdale, and Tarrytown.
Superintendent Dr. William McKersie asserted the importance of providing students and Hastings residents with the opportunity to play on an artificial turf field: “Nearly every single high school, college, and university that has any sort of recreational and athletic programs provides a mix of natural turf and artificial surfaces, and we are one of the last school districts anywhere [without these facilities].” He also explained that the school district puts a lot of care into keeping the natural turf fields in “reasonable shape,” and must restrict the use of the fields for non-student usage to preserve the fields. Dr. McKersie believes that all Hastings residents will benefit from artificial turf because it will “up the opportunities for usage by our students” and allow recreational usage that will “up the opportunities for the village residents.”
The initial proposal presented to the Board of Education on October 6 included two options for how the Burke Estate could be transformed. The first option included a plan for two turf fields, which would convert the lower and upper Burke soccer fields into artificial turf fields while installing lights on the upper field to provide under-the-lights games. The second option included two multi-sport artificial turf fields. This option proposed turning the current field hockey field into a multi-sport turf field that could be used for soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey, while also installing an overlapping artificial turf softball field. It also involved leveling the upper and lower Burke soccer fields to make another multi-sport field that could be used for football, lacrosse, and soccer, which would also include an overlapping baseball diamond.
Following up on these proposals, on December 4, the consultants presented a revised one-turf field proposal, which would only transform the upper Burke soccer field into an artificial turf field. This field would also have LED field lights that would allow Hastings High School to have more under-the-light games for soccer, lacrosse, football, and field hockey. The proposal also includes a new grandstand seating arrangement with approximately five hundred seats and a press box. This new design also opens an opportunity to install parking for about thirty cars that would give the Burke fields better handicap accessibility and, importantly, would provide enhanced emergency access for vehicles like ambulances.
Many students, coaches, and community members spoke during the public comment session at the December 4 meeting to share their opinions on the proposals. The Hastings Softball program showed up in force to support the original two turf field proposals, which included a turf softball field located at the Burke Estate. The players and their coach stressed how inconvenient their current field, located at Hillside Elementary School, is for games and practices. They also questioned whether the new proposal, which left out a softball field, is equitable to girls’ sports. Junior Siri Rosenberg, a varsity softball pitcher, emphasized how “last spring season [the varsity softball team] played eleven games in thirteen days due to rainouts,” resulting in the overworking of player’s bodies and injuries to the team. In addition, varsity lacrosse and field hockey player, sophomore Maya Sanzel, explained that the lack of artificial turf “is always a disadvantage for Hastings teams when playing away games, since turf is a much faster field and it has better mechanics when it comes to playing sports.”
Other residents spoke against bringing artificial turf to Burke. Speakers voiced concern about Hastings becoming increasingly unaffordable with rising taxes driving longtime residents out of the Village. Many residents whose homes are close to the Burke Estate expressed concern over light and noise pollution that could result from night games. One resident mentioned that he could see the bright lights from his house that were placed at Burke during Homecoming week and he is worried about disruptions that would be caused by the proposed LED lights. Other residents expressed concerns about the health risks of certain chemicals in the artificial turf fields that could leech out of turf in unknown amounts, and could impact the health of the students.
Although this specific capital bond proposal is new, the idea of bringing artificial turf fields to Hastings is not. In 2013, a bond proposal to build the track at Reynolds Field and change the grass football field to artificial turf was defeated. After the original proposal was voted down, an amended proposal without artificial turf was passed in May 2014.
The Board of Education will continue to discuss the proposals on December 11, during a work session and on December 17, at the scheduled board meeting. Residents of Hastings will return to the polls to cast their vote on the final bond proposal in May 2025.
