By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A Chelsea athletic field that was the city's first artificial turf park is now getting re-blanketed in 50,000 square feet of synthetic rubber, according to the New York Post.
It will take a $2.2 million investment from the Bloomberg administration to put down the new playing surface at Chelsea Park, located at W. 27th St. and 10th Avenue, the Post reported.
Construction crews are already at work tearing up the old turf at the park.
The old artificial turf is 12-years old — two more than its expected 10-year life span, Deputy Parks Commssioner Liam Kavanagh told the paper.
While Kavanagh said that age is the only reason for the new surface, one dust sample taken at the park shows a level of lead higher than the federal safety standard, the Post reported. But Kavanagh told the newspaper the lead level is still too low to pose a safety threat.
The city closed a soccer field at Harlem's Thomas Jefferson Park in 2008 due to a test that found a high lead level, according to the Post. But subsequent tests of all artificial fields in the city yielded no failed inspections, officials told the Post.
