Home turf advantage: New specialized flooring being installed at McEuen Park

Out with the old, in with the new.

After serving the community for over 10 years, the turf at Coeur d’Alene’s McEuen Park is being replaced.

City Parks and Recreation Director Adam Rouse said the turf and pad under the playground, originally dedicated in 1965 and rebuilt for $20 million in 2014, typically lasts 10-12 years under normal wear and tear.

“Obviously McEuen Park sees far more than normal traffic, and we started to see the turf breakdown more rapidly,” he said. “The artificial turf game changes often with products improving constantly and we are looking forward to the upgraded turf system and being able to get the park opened up for the community to enjoy it.”

ATS Turf, a local Inland Northwest company, is replacing the old turf with new turf. Owner Cal Webb said the project, with a contract worth nearly $250,000, will cover 12,000 square feet of high-end antimicrobial, anti-static, sanitized-fiber turf expected to last over another decade.

“It was worn down all the way to the gravel underneath,” Webb said of the old turf. “It just got to a point that it isn't safe anymore.” 

Webb said all the material used for the project is made exclusively in the United States. Boise-based SYNLawn Idaho supplied the turf, which incorporates synthetic grass systems.

Webb said that with installation underway, the project also offers an opportunity to capture the transformation from the existing surface through the installation of the new turf and the completed playground.

“It’s crazy how many people are on that thing,” Webb said of the McEuen playground. 

The Spokane-based ATS Turf, which just opened a new office in Coeur d'Alene, does about 20 to 30 projects a year, with about 15 of them being for businesses.

“Something that’s kind of cool is we’ve been working here in Coeur d’Alene for the past 10-plus years and now we have a location on Fourth Street,’ Webb said of the new office. “It’s really opened up our relationship with the city.”

Webb said the project at McEuen Park, expected to finish Oct. 25, currently has 6-8 people helping install the new olive-green turf.

“As a local company,” Webb said, “I have kids that live here and our focus is always trying to figure out how to make things safer and better for our families here.”

    The playground at McEuen Park without its turf on Thursday.