Art Eddy knows athletic fields. And soon, he will know a lot more about Barrington’s athletic fields. 

A principal with Traverse Landscape Architects, Eddy has been conducting a series of interviews with town and school officials, youth sports league organizers and others involved with athletics in Barrington. 

Eddy recently offered an in-depth look at the work he and his company are spearheading — the town hired Traverse for $69,750 to study the athletic fields in Barrington and draft a report. 

“Our job is that we were hired to come in and take a look at everything that’s been done, because there’s a lot of information that was provided by a wide range of folks in town, and … look at really what’s happening. Look at all the pieces. Can we validate some of what was in the reports, because there’s not a lot of science behind what’s actually happening. There was, ‘Hey, we need more fields,’” he said. “We’re going to look at, ‘Do you need more fields or is it organizing them better?’”

Eddy and Traverse Landscape Architects are working with a sub-consultant, Tom Irwin Advisers, which is studying the condition of athletic fields in town and the field maintenance programs. Eddy said the sub-consultant will be taking soil samples at the fields and studying whether the town could take steps to improve the playing surfaces. 

Traverse is also digging into the field scheduling system and other details — are the fields ADA compliant? Is there adequate storage at the fields? Are there scoreboards? 

“And then we’re looking at, what are the hours of use on each field and can these fields sustain the amount of use that they’re getting?” Eddy said. “Should we be looking at re-organizing?”

Eddy said Traverse does not have the answers to those questions yet, but has been gathering information. Eddy is also aware of the other work taking place in Barrington related to the fields. 

“We know there’s a field house discussion. We’ve been dragged into that a little bit,” Eddy said. “We know Haines Park is getting re-worked. We’ve been dragged into that a little bit.”

Eddy said Traverse has offered to peer review the field house and Haines Park work. 

“We said we would peer review those sorts of things, just to make sure ‘Hey, is this right for what your needs are, as you’re moving forward,’” he said. 

Traverse will also work through developing a field maintenance plan for the Barrington Department of Public Works. 

“We think, based on our preliminary (findings), DPW is doing a really good job,” Eddy said. “Some of that stuff is not documented, so, can we start to get that documented and produce things that will help assist the community through that process?”

Eddy said Traverse Landscape Architects covers New England and beyond. He said the company has worked with different communities facing the same challenges as Barrington. 

“We did all of Southborough, Massachusetts’s fields,” Eddy said. “We did a master plan for them. We actually did four projects for them. They had some fields. One, they had an old synthetic turf field that just needed to be replaced.  

“We rebuilt some fields for them. They had some fields that were really good soccer fields. They were actually sand-capped soccer fields. They just weren’t maintaining them properly. They’re really hard to maintain. We added a track…We did a small soccer field. Put lights on the tennis courts.”

Eddy said Traverse has also worked with larger communities, including Dedham, Mass., where it created a “massive” master plan that went beyond athletics. 

Eddy said Traverse will make a list of recommendations for Barrington and prioritize items. The plan will include a look five years out and 10 years out. 

“It always comes down to budget and financing, and those types of things, and the appetite for communities to want to do these types of projects,” Eddy said, adding that grant money and other factors can sometimes impact priorities.

“There’s a lot of ‘Hey, we want this, we want that.’ There’s a big argument over synthetic turf — there always is, no matter which community you’re in,” Eddy said. “Half the people want it, half the people don’t. It doesn’t matter where you are.”