On June 1 contractors will remove the grass from the Town Green in Downtown Alpharetta as the conversion of the popular park space to artificial turf begins. The area, which is along Main Street in front of Alpharetta City Hall, will be closed for as much as 30 days while the conversion is completed.
“The Town Green has become one of our most popular park spaces and sees heavy use any day when there is not rain or near freezing temperatures,” said Morgan Rodgers, Alpharetta’s Director of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Services. “As much as everyone wanted to keep natural grass there, it is just not possible to do with that many people playing and walking out there nearly every day. It just gets ground into mud.”
According to Rodgers, the City has tried a variety of grass types, soil augmentation, and other strategies to no avail. “We consulted with numerous experts, even going so far as to contact the folks who maintain the grass for the Braves at Truist Park, and everyone advised that the only real solution if we wanted the Town Green to be green in the spring and summer was to move to artificial turf,” he said.
Last month the Alpharetta City Council reviewed several artificial turf samples to determine which was the most realistic and consistent with the appearance of the natural grass in nearby areas. They awarded a contract for the conversion project on April 19.
The City admits that the ideal time to close the green and complete the work would be during winter months when the fewest people tend to be using outside park space, but the grass is in bad condition and needs to be replaced now.
“We tend to see a lot of residents take vacations in the early parts of June, so we are timing the work to correspond with folks being out of town so we impact fewer people,” Rodgers explained. “If we run into bad weather or other challenges, it will take up to 30 days to complete the project, but it could be much faster than that.”