Concord tree-cut foes want new debate

CONCORD -- Residents who oppose the town's plans to cut down trees in the woods behind Concord-Carlisle Regional High School to make room for athletic fields refuse to give up despite losing a vote at Town Meeting last week.

Opponents are gathering signatures to have a Special Town Meeting called, which would give them a chance to rescind the vote, and others are urging town officials to reconsider the plan.

"I'd like to see if there is any hope to save the woods and get some playing fields," said Patty Hecht, who lives in a neighborhood near the high school. "There's got to be some middle ground, but if they aren't willing to cooperate with me, I'll pursue other avenues. What that might be, I don't know right now."

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.

Dekkers Davidson, a member of the Fields Study Committee, said the group is moving forward with the implementation of the plan so site work can begin as scheduled this summer while school is out of session. The trees will be cut down and the land will be graded, he said, and construction of the fields and installation of the lights would take place over the winter and the artificial turf would be installed in the spring.

But Davidson also said supporters of the tree-cutting are ready to go back to Town Meeting, if necessary. "We're prepared to do this all over again," Davidson said, "but we're also preparing to go ahead with the implementation of our plan."

Meanwhile, town officials say it's going to take time for the wounds of Town Meeting to heal. "Nobody felt good about it and I'm not sure how we're going to heal," said Selectman Greg Howes, who supports the construction of playing fields. "Everyone feels there were shenanigans going on. Both sides felt the other side was up to something. There's a lot of bitterness, and that's not how this should go down."

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.

Opponents said many of their group had left after the first vote because they thought the issue was over and it was getting late.

"There are people who feel their vote didn't end up counting," said Nancy Burnham, an opponent of the plan. "People are upset that their vote didn't stand up on its own. The integrity of the town's will is in question based on how this happened."

Many residents oppose the plan because several acres of trees in Walden Woods would be destroyed. The property is owned by the Concord-Carlisle Regional School District but technically is considered part of Walden Woods.