The Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved a comprehensive 25-year Parks and Recreation Vision Plan early Wednesday, but not before amending a controversial policy on artificial turf fields that sparked passionate debate from students and environmental advocates.
The council voted 7-0 to adopt the plan with a key modification: existing artificial turf fields will be re-evaluated at the end of their natural life to determine if durable natural grass alternatives may feasibly replace them, rather than automatically being replaced with artificial turf as staff had originally proposed.
Council Member Jesse Zwick proposed the amendment after hearing from numerous Santa Monica High School students from "Team Marine," parents and the Commission on Sustainability who urged the council to ban artificial turf entirely due to concerns about heat islands, microplastics and chemical exposure.
"I sympathize with the kids as a person who played soccer, and the turf fields, I think are worse in most respects," Zwick said. "They do get hot. They do lead to more injuries. They do leave nasty burns when you slide."
The vision plan establishes a goal of achieving 5 park acres per 1,000 residents over the next 25 years. Santa Monica currently offers 144 park acres, equating to roughly 1.55 acres per 1,000 residents — below the Los Angeles County average of 3.3 acres and significantly below the National Recreation and Park Association's recommendation of 6 to 10 acres for cities with populations between 100,000 and 250,000.
Senior Park Planner Antonio Lopez told the council that 96% of survey respondents visit a park, arts or recreation facility in a typical year — 15% above the national average. Additionally, 49% participate in a city program or event annually, 13% above the national average.
The artificial turf debate dominated much of the discussion. Staff had proposed a compromise policy: no new artificial turf fields would be installed, existing grass fields would remain grass, but the two existing artificial turf fields at Airport Park and Belmar Park would be replaced with artificial turf when they reach the end of their lifespan.
City Architect Amelia Feichtner explained that staff's recommendations focused on maintaining adequate playable field access for youth sports programs while exploring more durable natural grass systems. She noted that artificial turf fields allow for consistent playability and significantly greater usage with fewer weather- and maintenance-related closures.
However, Council Member Zwick noted that the city's own Environmental Impact Report for Memorial Park found that using grass "would avoid the use of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs and microplastics that have potential to degrade over time, resulting in potential contamination of water and soil and potential adverse effects on human health."
Council Member Dan Hall initially offered a substitute motion to keep staff's original recommendation, expressing concern that immediately transitioning Airport Park's artificial turf field to grass would reduce capacity for high-intensity adult sports like soccer, rugby and football. But he withdrew his motion after Zwick clarified that the amendment allows staff to determine what's feasible based on research results.
"As long as feasibility includes we are heavily weighing loss in adult sports time as well for high intensity sports, then I'm fine with that," Hall said.
Council members also directed staff to study how streets and even the Interstate 10 freeway could potentially be utilized for public recreational purposes. Council Member Ellis Raskin advocated for "reusing the freeway land for a public good, for public parks."
"Let's not cap it. Let's get rid of it," Raskin said, noting the idea has worked in other cities.
The plan, which updates the city's 1997 Parks and Recreation Master Plan, establishes eight principles including nourishing existing parks, expanding new parkland, connecting open space and supporting funding partnerships. It proposes a vision of "City as Habitat" — reinforcing the city's parks and open spaces as nourishing habitat for people, plants, animals and programming.
The Recreation and Parks Commission, the Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice and the Environment, and multiple other advisory bodies supported the plan and the 5-acre goal during months of community outreach.
The vision plan will guide strategic open space decisions for the next 25 years, particularly for the Santa Monica Airport Conversion Project, which presents the largest parkland expansion opportunity in the city's 150-year history.