Ridgewood residents and council spar over artificial turf, contamination and remediation at Schedler property

Residents and some council members clashed Tuesday night at the Village of Ridgewood council meeting over plans to install artificial turf at the Schedler property and the village’s response to recent soil contamination there.

At issue was both the health and environmental safety of artificial turf and the village’s handling of contaminated soil that residents said was used to build a berm at Schedler. Several speakers asked the council to halt further work until a full investigation and a restoration plan are completed; council members and other speakers pushed back, saying turf is needed to support heavy field use and pointing to studies they said show low risk.

Amy McCambridge, a Ridgewood resident, told the council that contamination discovered at Schedler had been placed in the berm and that the village only acknowledged the problem after the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection became involved. McCambridge said the village had already spent roughly $2,600,000 on the property and warned that the proposed remediation plan — which she described as tearing up trees and replacing vegetated areas with artificial turf — would “replace a living, breathing ecosystem with plastic and rubber.” She asked the council to impose a moratorium on all work at…