Princeton Academy proposes to replace grass athletic fields with artificial turf on Great Road campus (updated)

The Princeton Planning Board will review an application by the Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart on Thursday night to replace two grass athletic fields with all-weather artificial turf.

Princeton Academy is a boys’ school for grades K-8 that was founded in 1998. Students at the school currently play soccer, lacrosse and baseball, participate in physical education classes, and enjoy recess playtime on two grass fields.

The proposed turf project would convert the existing grass athletic fields in the northeast corner of Princeton Academy’s campus into turf fields. The turf fields would primarily be for soccer, lacrosse, and baseball. The Princeton Soccer Association would lease the turf fields, using them on weekdays from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and on weekends until 7 p.m.

According to the plans, the turf will cover 184,815 square feet of land. The school was originally seeking a variance for the project because the original turf being proposed, Ironturf, would have increased the impervious surface on the property to 21 percent, 7 percent beyond the 14-percent limit. The net increase in the impervious surface proposed was 4.2 acres. The school now plans to use EliteTurf, which school officials say is an environmentally friendly turf that is recyclable and permeable.

The school is located on a 43-acre property on the Great Road in the environmentally sensitive Princeton Ridge, an ecological area in Mercer County that extends westward from the Millstone River and the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park across the northern part of Princeton Township into Hopewell.

A total of 44 trees would be removed to make way for the two turf fields. The school would plant 67 new trees to replace them.

Plans call for portable lighting at the fields in the form of 11 light towers. According to the plans on file, the lights would be powered by diesel-fueled generators. But school officials said the plans have been modified and the portable lights are 100% electric LED lights. School officials said the lights will only be 16 feet high so that light will not shine beyond the school’s tree canopy.

The school must prove that the lighting will not have a negative impact on neighbors who live to the north and east of the fields. The buffer between the fields and neighboring properties is 50 feet, according to the plans.

Baseball dugouts, scoreboards, and storage space would be relocated as part of the plans.

Some residents who live near the property have expressed concerns about the lighting and the number of trees being removed. School officials invited surrounding neighbors to a socially-distanced outdoor meeting on the campus on Oct. 8. Attendees were presented with details regarding the project and were given the opportunity to ask questions and hear from Princeton Academy President John Newman, EliteTurf Chief Operating Officer Moshe Grant, and Princeton Academy Head of School Rik Dugan.

Princeton Academy officials said the school takes pride in its environmentally friendly initiatives. The campus is home to 40 geothermal fields, 700-plus solar panels, and a geodesic dome that the school uses for year-round gardening and the science curriculum.

Dugan said the school is excited to use the new recyclable turf surface. “The partnership between Princeton Academy and the Princeton Soccer Association is an example of environmentally aware community building, which will undoubtedly be good for all who utilize the facility,” he said.

The hearing will take place at the Princeton Planning Board’s 7:30 p.m. Zoom meeting on Thursday, Oct. 15. Zoom information is available here.

Editor’s note: We updated this story to include more recent information provided by Princeton Academy beyond the public planning documents we originally reviewed for this story.