In 2007, Redwood City’s Red Morton Park transitioned from natural grass to synthetic turf to conserve water resources. This 32-acre facility, heavily utilized, features multiple venues, including three multi-use synthetic turf fields for baseball and soccer, four illuminated tennis courts, and a new little league batting cage. Verde Design led a significant project in 2015 involved replacing nearly 375,000 square feet of turf, installing new sports lighting for the previously unlit field, upgrading the drainage system to meet current C.3 standards, and renovating the tennis courts with enhanced lighting. Additionally, the project addressed subsurface stabilization for two fields and two tennis courts.
Due to the park’s year-round usage, numerous public workshops were conducted to ensure community concerns were addressed and to minimize disruptions. Early in the design phase, meetings were held with representatives from soccer, baseball, and tennis groups. Following these discussions, Verde Design created the bid documents, incorporating subsurface mitigation based on insights from the City’s geotechnical consultant. The bid was awarded in September 2015 after the City Council certified the CEQA documents, with groundbreaking taking place in November 2015 and construction concluding in August.
The initial project plan was focused solely on the lime treatment of the Griffin-Bechet Field. However, an unexpected requirement arose for the lime treatment of the McGarvey Field as well. The original Geotechnical Report did not suggest any treatment for McGarvey; nevertheless, after the removal of the old turf, the necessity for treatment became apparent. Additionally, it was discovered that the off-haul soil was contaminated, necessitating further action. The stormwater management system on-site comprised stormwater chambers positioned away from the play surface, designed to collect and facilitate the recharge of the groundwater aquifer. This system was put to the test during the significant rainfall in March 2016, which resulted in the collection of stormwater runoff from both the Griffin-Bechet and McGarvey fields. Remarkably, within a week following the rainfall event, all water that had accumulated in the chambers had successfully percolated into the surrounding soil.
