Selectmen Lay Groundwork For Athletic Fields Committee

Selectman Jill Sullivan said the town's need for athletic fields remains.

Yes, the and its artificial surface failed at Town Meeting in May.

But the challenge now is to find a solution that will meet field needs— and that the town will back, supporters say.

The need is to provide enough quality playing surfaces to support the town's youth sporting activities, supporters say.

To that end selectmen on Wednesday agreed to have Selectman Jill Sullivan and the town administrator craft a mission statement for a committee charged with finding a solution to the town's field needs.

Linso van der Burg, a member of the group that proposed the Blocksidge improvement plan, told selectmen that one of the reasons why the Blocksidge plan failed was because people in town thought that too small a group was pushing the plan.

The group solicited donations to help fund the project and assembled the proposal for town meeting. It got a majority vote but failed to get the two-thirds support it needed, as a bonded item, for approval.

But that effort is finished.

"We're kind of ... the wind is out of our sail, now," he said.

Still, he said members of the group are willing to help the new committee.

Selectmen said they will want to recruit broad representation on the new panel.

Members of the public are encouraged to join it.

Selectman Barry Greenfield encouraged fellow members David Van Dam and Glenn Kessler to nominate people who opposed the Blocksidge plan.

Greenfield said the selectmen, who opposed the Blocksidge project at Town Meeting, should help meet the town's needs not just say no to a plan.