Friends of Concord-Carlisle Playing Fields

The following account of the Concord Special Town Meeting was published in the Concord Journal today:

Following last week’s special Town Meeting, Article 30 from annual Town Meeting still stands as passed with an overwhelming majority vote from a record turnout of citizens.

By the time the vote was called, 1,733 residents had arrived at the high school June 13 to cast their votes from the auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria and additional seating areas.

Appearing as Article 3 on the warrant, opponents to the playing fields initiative moved to rescind the actions approved by a reconsideration vote at Town Meeting in April. The motion allowed an appropriation of $1.5 million from town funds to be used to construct two all-purpose turf fields on a wooded hill behind the high school.

After debates and deliberations, Article 3 failed to gain a majority vote, resulting in a 1,300 to 433 vote.

In a separate interview, Town Manager Chris Whelan said, “I’m very pleased with both the process and outcome of special Town Meeting…It confirmed the community’s faith in the Town Meeting process.”

However, he added, “I’m disappointed in the cost.”

According to Whelan’s estimates, the additional visit to the playing fields discussion cost the town approximately $35,000.

After releasing the results of the vote, presenter Ken Hecht announced the petitioner for Articles 4 and 5, Mark O’Lalor, would not be moving the later motions regarding alternative sites and funding sources.

Reached by phone after the meeting, Hecht said the decision to not move further motions was because “with [Article 3] not passing, four and five, at least with respect to the alternative plan, were moot.”

As the petitioner of Article 3, Hecht articulated what he believed was necessary support in regards to the rescission of town funds to construct the playing fields on the hill.

According to Hecht’s presentation on behalf of Connie Levine, the best location for the fields would be where existing fields are — near the football stadium at the high school campus. Article 5 asked voters to determine whether the town should build the fields on already developed high school land.

In opposition to any changes made to the annual Town Meeting’s outcome, Johanna Hunter and Jeff Adams, representatives from the Playing Fields Committee, spoke against the article.

The alternative plan proposed by opponents, said Adams, would conflict with the footprint of the eventual renovation of the high school.

In addition, nine town boards and committees supported the playing fields as originally planned.

“Alternatives have been sought throughout town,” said selectmen Chairman Peggy Briggs. “There is not a better site than the high school site.”

Concord Public School Committee Chairman Peter Fischelis said the regional district has searched for other sites already developed on campus.

“We’ve reviewed the entire campus time and time again, even after the last Town Meeting, just to make sure,” said Fischelis.

According to the architect hired by opponents, the cost of turfing the football stadium, adding an additional turf field, and reconstructing the baseball and softball diamonds would be less than the $3.8 million necessary to build fields on the hill adjacent to Route 2.

Despite the loss on the floor of the special Town Meeting, Connie Levine said in a later interview, “We’re going to continue to fight for the woods…I’m still hopeful.”

In regards to the alternative plan, “I think our architect showed there are very viable alternatives,” she said.

Reiterating the decision not move Articles 4 and 5 because of the failure of Article 3, Levine also said the argument to rescind town funds was limited.

As instructed by Town Moderator Ned Perry, the special Town Meeting was declared to not be a forum to discuss arguments relative to the procedural happenings at the annual Town Meeting.

Previously, Article 30 moved to allocate $1.5 million from town funds to cover a portion of construction costs for the fields. Originally, the motion narrowly failed to gain a two-thirds majority vote.

After a vote to reconsider the matter was passed that night, the article passed.

“We couldn’t really make our argument as to why [Article 30] should be overturned from a technical standpoint,” said Levine.

Between the original and reconsideration votes, approximately 325 people had left the annual Town Meeting.

Also, most recently, the Friends of Thoreau Country, an organization against any construction of fields in the wooded parcel behind the school, filed a request for an advisory opinion in accordance with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act.

Executive Director of Friends of Thoreau Country Patty Hecht said, “It’s hard for me to believe in a town like Concord that this is the only viable option.”

 “I’m just disappointed that Concordians value sports over historic preservation and the environment,” she added.

As of press time, both the town and Regional School Committee have filed responses to allegations made by the Friends of Thoreau Country.

If a review were deemed necessary by the state, funds allocated to assist with the construction of the fields on the hill from the Community Preservation Act would not be released until the review process is complete and approved. This process could potentially take more than a year, Ken Hecht said on Town Meeting floor last week.

When asked by a voter if the organization would withdraw the MEPA request if the town voted to approve the fields again, Hecht said they would continue with the filing.

Additionally, before the vote was taken, he said in an effort to move the construction of any fields forward, “[I am] almost certain the alternative plan won’t be subject to MEPA.”

Article 3 was called to a vote after approximately one and a half hours of public debate. The meeting adjourned at approximately 10:30 p.m.

(Reproduced, as is other Concord Journal material on this website, under a Creative Commons license from Gateway Media)

In a Special Town Meeting session devoted solely to the funding of Concord-Carlisle's athletic fields project, Concord's voters last night affirmed their support for $1.5 million in funding to build a new playing fields in Concord, starting with two turf fields on the hillside behind Concord-Carlisle High School.  The number of participants -- more than 1700 -- broke an attendance record for Concord's Town Meeting.

75% of the voters (1300) voted to sustain the previous Town Meeting vote to fund the fields project; 25% (433) voted against the funding.Construction of the fields is scheduled to start in late June, 2007.

Friends of Concord-Carlisle Fields (“CC Fields”) announced today that it has topped $1.1 million in private gifts and pledges on its way to $1.9 million to help construct six playing fields in the town of Concord.

"This is a tremendous accomplishment for the towns of Concord and Carlisle and for the future generations of athletes who will benefit from these facilities," said Phil Gibson, campaign chairman for Friends of Concord-Carlisle Fields. "We have set an ambitious private fundraising goal of $1.9 million, but the response to date from the very generous citizens of Concord and Carlisle makes a loud statement about the importance of this comprehensive project to our community. We have said from day one that a balanced community is excellent in all ways, and it is clear from the gifts we have received many people believe this and want to help make these fields a reality. We look forward to engaging the thousands of people in town who will benefit from these fields in the coming months to help reach our goal."

The Concord-Carlisle fields project involves the construction of two new multi-purpose playing fields on the property of Concord-Carlisle High School for soccer, lacrosse, and football; two new baseball fields (60- and 90-foot diamonds); an additional multi-purpose grass field; and conversion of an existing baseball field for a first-rate softball facility.

The project is being funded through a public-private partnership, consisting of:

• $1.5 million in Concord town funds which were voted by Concord's Annual Town Meeting on April 24, 2007;
• $1.5 million in Community Preservation Act funds which were appropriated by the Community Preservation Committee and ratified at Concord Town Meeting on April 24, 2007; and
• Private fundraising with a goal of $1.9 million.

The Concord Historical Commission has released the results of a fresh evaluation of the historical significance of the proposed playing fields site behind Concord-Carlisle High School.  Their conclusion:

After considerable review, we feel that our original assessment of this area -- made in November 2006 when we voted unanimously that this parcel of land was not of highly significant historical value -- is still correct.

The review was conducted in response to claims made by an interest group opposing the fields project, Friends of Thoreau Country.  In a Request for Advisory Opinion from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the groups attorney claimed that building the playing fields would require the "destruction of an historic place of national significance."

The CHC disagreed, stating:

This site is bounded on all sides by modern and intrusive development: Route 2 to the south; Brister’s Hill Road housing to the east; the high school complex---including a bus depot---to the north. It is not accessible to the public, except across school land or private property, and cannot be enjoyed, of a piece, with either the land surrounding Walden Pond or the land, preserved by the Walden Woods Project, on Brister’s Hill.

We have consulted numerous maps and aerial photographs of the area as well numerous accounts of activities on this land. We’ve heard from experts on the history and geology of this area. The maps are, at best, conflicting and the experts disagree and have, over time, revised their opinions as to the location of various historic landscape features within Walden Woods---and particularly those features that may or may not have been on this parcel. The one clearly historic feature of this area, Laurel Glen---

which was officially laid-out as a path in Concord in 1671, was filled in by Route 2 construction; Brister’s Hill Road housing was later actually built in Laurel Glen. Laurel Glen, however, is significantly east of the proposed playing fields and, even if it were still intact, would not be disturbed by this new development. Another ancient path, as we heard from an expert, that may have crossed this land, was similarly excavated by Route 2 construction.

We are fortunate, as a town, to have in our possession a high level of archeological data. Our "map", which identifies over 400 sites, forms the basis of the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s many listings for archeological sites in Concord. This data was confirmed and updated in 1981 by Dr. Shirley Blancke. At that time she indicated which sites were intact, destroyed or disturbed by construction. Our recent review of this map confirms that no archeological sites are listed on the land behind the Concord-Carlisle Regional High School. The closest known site on school property is at the edge of Thoreau Street---quite distant from the proposed playing field site---and is noted as "disturbed."

In a town as steeped in history as Concord is, it is important to be able to make informed judgments as to the relative merits of our historic resources. All our resources are not equally valuable, and forgetting that puts us in jeopardy of diminishing the genuine significance of our truly prized and well-preserved historic places.

For all of the reasons stated above---discrepancies as to the actual location of valued landscape features; disturbance and destruction of historic resources by 20^th century development; fragmentation of this site from the greater Walden Woods landscape; no known archeological sites---it is our judgment that this particular piece of woodland has regrettably, but irrevocably, been significantly compromised of its historic integrity as a part of Walden Woods.

Full text of the Concord Historic Commission's opinion

The Concord Selectmen have set the warrant for the Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, June 13th, at 7:00pm at Concord-Carlisle High School.  Filled largely by items generated by petition, the warrant includes several articles designed to stymie or delay the Concord-Carlisle playing fields project.  A link to the complete warrant is here, but a summary of the articles related to the fields follows:

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."

Friends of Concord-Carlisle Fields has released a presentation detailing work spanning two decades at finding sites for new playing fields, including a site-by-site analysis and photographs of the 25 sites that were considered.  Entitled "The Search for Concord-Carlisle Field Sites," the presentation may be viewed at www.ccfields.org/sites.

The Concord Board of Selectmen, forced to schedule a Special Town Meeting by a group of petitioners, has set Wednesday June 13th at 7pm for the meeting to consider a move to rescind funding for the fields project.

Town funding for the comprehensive fields project was approved by a two-thirds vote at the most recent Annual Town Meeting on April 24th.  Having lost the last Town Meeting vote, opponents of the fields have petitioned to reconsider the vote -- a move which several selectmen have branded "a waste of town money and resources."

The Special Town Meeting, and the hearing which precedes it, will represent the 39th and 40th public meeting on the fields topic.  The fields project has won overwhelming approval from all town committees who have an obligation to weigh in, and has the strong backing of the Concord-Carlisle Regional School Committee, on whose land (behind Concord-Carlisle High School) Phase 1 of the project will be built.

All voters who are registered in Concord by June 1st will be eligible to attend and vote at the Special Town Meeting, which will be held at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School.

Green-Rainbow Party activist Mark O'Lalor filed a petition with Concord's Board of Selectmen this afternoon, demanding that a Special Town Meeting be held to rescind the town funding of the Concord-Carlisle fields project.  The funding in question won the necessary two-thirds majority of Town Meeting voters on April 24th.

Despite the unanimous support of the Board of Selectmen for the fields project, and the fact that several have gone on record saying that yet another town meeting to consider fields funding would be, in the words of Chairman Virginia McIntyre, "a waste of town resources," O'Lalor's petition appeared to have the requisite 200 signatures to force the Selectmen's hand to schedule a Special Town Meeting.

According to town officials, the Selectmen must now schedule the Special Town Meeting within the statutory limit of 45 days.  With the time required for notice and registration, that will mean the meeting will need to be held between approximately June 12th and June 22nd.

The Board of Selectmen are expected to take up the scheduling of the Special Town Meeting at their meeting on Monday night, May 14th.

Here is a link to the Boston Globe article on the effort to mount a special Town Meeting to reconsider the vote in favor of the C-C fields.  The article recounts the sequence of events at the April 24th Town Meeting, at which two articles for public backing of the fields were approved:

The funding request had to pass by a two-thirds majority because the town plans to borrow $1.5 million for the project. On the first vote, the plan failed, 459 to 802. Supporters needed 843 votes.

A resident requested a reconsideration of the vote, which is allowed under the rules for Town Meeting. After more debate and after a number of residents had left the meeting, a second vote was taken and the plan passed 678 to 258. Supporters needed 625 votes.

Supporters say the vote changed because they had an opportunity to refute what they described as inaccuracies that were stated by the opponents during the first debate. They said the vote was called too soon the first time.

Despite the fact that five hours of town meeting debate were devoted in an evening devoted exclusively to the fields issues on April 24th, the article points out that opponents feel that wasn't nearly enough:

Mark O'Lalor hopes to collect 200 signatures to call the Special Town Meeting so residents can spend one evening focused just on the playing fields.

"All it would do is give us another opportunity to revisit the issue in an open forum where we can all get together," he said. "The town is really upset and divided."

If O'Lalor collects the necessary signatures, the Board of Selectmen must call a Special Town Meeting within 45 days.

Virginia McIntyre, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said she thinks residents have had ample time to debate the issue. It was debated twice at Town Meeting and has been discussed at more than 30 public meetings over the past year, she said.

The opponents could have asked for reconsideration during Town Meeting, McIntyre said, but chose not to.

"If the same question is being presented as was discussed ad nauseam at Town Meeting," she said, "it's a waste of town resources."

Town Clerk Anita Tekle said a Special Town Meeting would cost between $12,000 and $15,000.

The Concord Journal reports this morning that members of a special interest group, having lost their attempt to defeat the Concord-Carlisle fields initiative at Town Meeting by a margin of more than 70 to 30 percent, are circulating a petition to try again at a Special Town Meeting this summer.

Leaders of the special interest group voiced their discontent at a Selectmen's meeting Monday night, and were believed to have been trying to get the necessary signatures to force another Town Meeting to nullify the town's vote on Article 30, which was debated for nearly 5 hours before it was approved in a paper ballot by more than a two-thirds vote on April 24th.

According to the Concord Journal Article:

At the Board of Selectmen meeting on Monday evening, newly appointed Chairman Peggy Briggs said she would prefer to not see a special Town Meeting on the matter because it “will just extend the situation that much longer and I’m not convinced it will make a change.”

According to Town Clerk Anita Tekle, a special Town Meeting can be called one of two ways — by majority vote of the Board of Selectmen or by a petition signed by at least 200 registered voters.

A special Town Meeting costs anywhere between $12,000 and $15,000 for one night.

According to the article, Selectman Virginia McIntyre said that continuing to revisit Article 30 is "a waste of citizens' time and town resources."

Selectman Briggs added, "At the end of the meeting I do feel there was strong support throughout the meeting as [Article 30] was proposed."

The selectmen stated their surprise that a petition was not presented at their meeting on Monday, April 30th.  The board does not meet again until mid-May.

Here is a link to the Concord Journal article about the Town Meeting vote.