By John H. Palmer

WESTPORT — Student and recreational athletes at Staples High School’s field house will have a new surface to play on this fall.

The Representative Town Meeting on Tuesday approved $1.5 million in bonding for the project to the Educational Facilities Improvement Fund to replace the flooring at the facility.

The proposal was unanimously approved by a vote of 32-0, with District 8 member Wendy Batteau and District 7 member Ellen Lautenberg both abstaining from the vote.

According to comments made to the RTM by Board of Education Chair Lee Goldstein and Chief Financial Officer Elio Longo, the current flooring surface at the field house was installed in the 1970s and replaced in 1997 with a warranty of a 25-year lifespan. In 2025, the flooring surface marks 28 years of service.

“This floor has given us its best,” said Goldstein. “We cannot host meets. This is one of two field houses in Fairfield County, and we can’t use it.”

She said the current flooring has seams that are tearing and buckled. “It’s hard on our kids’ legs,” she added. 

Longo said replacement of the flooring is more than just aesthetically necessary. In 2019, he said an inspection found the current flooring subsystem contained mercury that needs to be removed. The funds allocated include the cost of mercury abatement, he said.

The new flooring system will be the Pulastic© wood floor alternative by manufacturer Robbins Sport Surfaces based out of Cincinnati. According to the company website, the synthetic wood surface is designed to be highly resilient, durable and made to reduce risk of injury to athletes. Design work has already been completed for the Staples flooring and that cost of $120,000 is built into the funds allocated by the RTM, Longo said. 

RTM members’ discussion before Tuesday night’s vote revolved around health concerns about use of recycled rubber and sealants used in synthetic flooring. 

Batteau, who abstained from the vote, said although she realizes the floor desperately needs to replaced, she also wanted reassurance that proper vetting was completed about so-called “crumb rubber,” which is recycled rubber granules commonly used in synthetic athletic surfaces.

While departments of health in both Connecticut and Massachusetts have conducted studies that found no dangers from exposure to substance in the rubber materials, she added that departments of education in both Massachusetts and New York have banned the use of crumb rubber in carpets. She added that Greenwich is conducting its own study into the issue. 

“We have to replace this flooring. It’s hazardous and it’s falling apart,” she said. “We are between a rock and a hard place, so what do we do? We are going to replace it with something that we know in five years will be hazardous. I can’t in good conscience vote against this, but somehow this town has to do something. What we didn’t know then, we are starting to know now. We don’t want to in 20 years be the people who did this to us.”

Longo reassured the RTM that he has seen no evidence the flooring contains hazardous materials.

Installation of the new flooring is scheduled to begin June 16 and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, just after the 2025-26 academic year gets underway, Longo said. 

Because of this, he said accommodations are being arranged with the Parks and Recreation Department and Board of Education to meet the needs of the town’s recreational programs during the summertime disruption due to construction. 

John Palmer, a Norwalk native, is a freelance writer who has covered community news in Fairfield County and Massachusetts for over 30 years.