Questions remain about school field

A much-anticipated $1 million artificial-turf field at Wayland High School should be completed before school starts up, just in time for high school football games to be played there. But controversy continues to dog the project.

Questions about the use of public funds to pay a portion of the field's cost and concerns about its environmental impact prompted a still-pending lawsuit and a recently settled appeal to a state board.

The opposition was somewhat surprising to Craig Foreman, the president of the Wayland Boosters, which raised $700,000 toward the construction of the turf field. "The town is being handed a gift, 70 percent of which is being paid for privately," Foreman said.

But, he noted, "the field's being built, and that's all that matters."

On July 23, the town settled an environmental appeal that had been filed with the state Department of Environmental Protection by 10 residents who are concerned about the field's impact on town drinking water. The town agreed to hire a consultant to test and access the field's drainage system.

Still outstanding is a lawsuit filed in November that challenges the use of $300,000 in Community Preservation Act funds, which was approved at Town Meeting last year. The law requires that the money be used for acquisition, creation, and preservation of open space, the suit states, and the 13 objectors don't believe the field qualifies. Selectmen have called the lawsuit "an attempt to thwart the will of the citizens of Wayland," and the town will ask that the suit be dismissed.

Kurt Tramposch, who spearheaded the environmental appeal, said it's possible the concerns could have been sidestepped if the town had been more careful in choosing a site away from sensitive environmental areas. He said some towns do surveys of possible locations before beginning such a project.

But Foreman said the location at the high school was logical because it's the only field in town with lights, parking, and bleachers. "It offers the most benefit to the town," he stated in an e-mail.

Gray Holmes, president of Wayland Youth Soccer, said he's looking forward to the opening of the field.

"It's a great asset for the community," he said. "That's one of the great things: Youth programs, high school programs, and adult programs will all be able to take advantage of it."

He said overuse of Wayland's limited playing fields has resulted in worn spaces where rocks jut out and create a "health hazard." He said when the turf field opens up, youth soccer hopes to begin a field-rotation program that will enable the organization to take a field out of a use for a year at a time. And his soccer leagues will be able to play on the high school field, which typically was off-limits to youth soccer to protect the condition of the field.

"Now, on the weekends, it will be used all day long," he said.

Town Administrator Fred Turkington said the 10 residents "believe they are ahead of the curve" in citing environmental concerns about the fields, but it's impossible to know if that's true. "We'll find out, I guess."

Foreman was less charitable, noting that towns throughout the area are installing the fields. "People have a right to their opinion," he said, "and the process took care of it."

Holmes, who did not have concerns about environmental impacts, acknowledged that no one knows for sure. "I do agree," he said. "Better safe than sorry."