Friends of Concord-Carlisle Playing Fields

Apparently unwilling to trust their fate to another Town Meeting vote, a small number of opponents of the Concord-Carlisle fields project have sought to further delay the project by trying to tie it up in a state environmental review.

According to an article in the Boston Globe, the group has petitioned the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs in an attempt to force the town to file a lengthy and costly review of the project under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, "a process that could stall the project for months or even years," accroding to the Globe.

Town officials received a copy of the filing Monday and were still reviewing the documents, according to Town Manager Chris Whelan. He said the town will provide a written response within the 20-day timetable.

However, Whelan said the town does not think the project requires any state permits or reviews. "At first glance, most of the assertions don't seem to be accurate or well-founded," he said.

The filing states that an environmental review is needed because the fields are only part of a multipart renovation plan on high school grounds. Whelan said the projects have been independent of each other. Also, he said the school district has no definitive plans to build a new high school and is nowhere near making a decision about the future of the building.

"I don't even know if we're building a new school," Whelan said.

According to the Globe article, supporters of the fields are "disappointed that the plan has caused such a division."

Dekkers Davidson, a member of the town Playing Fields Committee, said they are simply trying to do something good for the town. "It saddens me enormously," Davidson said. "It's a valuable conversation to have about removing trees for playing fields. Unfortunately, there were many things thrown into the mix that's not true and that poisoned the process. It's not been a good moment for the town of Concord."