Kerry O’Neill does not want lights installed at the middle school athletic fields.

The Barrington Town Council member made that clear during the Oct. 5 meeting when he made a motion directing the Barrington Park and Recreation Commission to walk away from the initiative altogether. O’Neill stated the motion after residents and town officials debated the issue for more than an hour.

The other councilors, Liana Cassar and Braxton Cloutier, did not appear interested in seconding the motion, but after a few seconds passed, Cassar offered up the second which opened the door for councilors to further continue their debate on the lights proposal.

O’Neill explained that he did not want to go through the process of further discussing the proposal or allowing the Barrington Park and Recreation Commission to hold a meeting with residents to discuss the issues. He said it was just not worth it. O’Neill said he appreciated the goal in mind, but felt that this was the wrong way to get there. 

Cassar did not agree with O’Neill. She said the conversation needed to happen. Cassar said Barrington is going to have to discuss the athletic fields issue, adding that the Commission is offering the installation of lights at the middle school fields as a solution.

“Is it efficient? Absolutely not,” she said. But if the town intends on having a transparent discussion, she added, the process should continue. 

Cloutier, the council president, said he did not support lights at the middle school fields, but believes the conversation needs to happen. He added that the town needs to continue to hear from people and allow the discussions to play out. 

O’Neill’s motion went to a vote, but failed. Cassar and Cloutier voted against O’Neill’s push to end the initiative. 

There was no further vote — councilors inferred that the topic will be scheduled for a workshop or additional study.

Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey said the town has a plan for its athletic fields, and an order: Haines Park improvements are at the top of the list, following by Chianese Park work, and then St. Andrew’s Farm Field. Hervey said the plan is based on recommendations made by a consultant hired a few years ago. 

Cassar said the middle school lights proposal was trying to jump ahead of the other planned work. This (middle school lights) is not at the front of the line, she said, adding that officials can let it sit for a bit and see what happens with the Chianese Park proposal. 

Chianese vs. middle school?

Cloutier opened the middle school lights discussion with a reference to the town’s plan for Chianese Park. He said the town hired Pare Corp. to creating a plan for Chianese — officials have recommended changes to the initial plan offered by up Pare. 

Hervey said the Chianese plans are still in flux. 

Members of the Barrington Park and Recreation Commission earlier voted 6-1 in favor of the middle school lights proposal. Commission members Tom Rimoshytus and Joe Merrill spoke during the council meeting. 

Rimoshytus said the Commission was not focused on Chianese — it was just trying to move forward with the middle school lights. He said there is a shortage of field space in town and adding lights to the middle school fields would increase the time those fields are available to teams; he mentioned youth lacrosse, soccer, flag football, and field hockey. He also spoke about the lights technology: they can be dimmed to 50 percent, and the new lights do not have spillover onto surrounding property. 

Rimoshytus said the best part of the proposal is that there is already plenty of parking at the middle school fields. 

O’Neill asked Merrill and Rimoshytus how they felt about putting the Chianese plan at risk — there is about $3.5 million remaining from a 2024 fields bond and it is not clear how much the Chianese Park work would cost. 

Merrill said the commission was not weighing one project against another. He said members were just trying to bring forth a proposal to help with the fields issue. 

O’Neill, who serves as liaison to the Park and Recreation Commission, also asked if there had been any talk about whether adding lights would negatively impact the condition of the middle school fields. 

Merrill said the Barrington Department of Public Works officials did state that the lights could risk the condition of the playing surface. 

O’Neill said the proposal was a bit premature.

Rimoshytus responded, it’s an option. 

The dissenting vote on the commission was by Mike Seward, who read a prepared statement at the council meeting. He referenced the money left in the fields bond and the possible cost of Chianese. 

Public pushback

A number of residents who live in the Roberta Plat neighborhood voiced opposition to the middle school lights proposal. 

Some spoke about the current noise that comes from the basketball courts and pickle ball courts at the middle school. They said adding lights at the fields would further the issues. 

Theresa Devine lives near the school. She questioned whether there was a shortage of field space — she said there are often times when no teams are using the fields during the daylight hours. She told councilors that she would get an army of her neighbors to monitor the fields. Devine added that lights are a permanent solution to a temporary field shortage problem. 

She finished her remarks with: “This is not the last you’ve heard from me.” Later in the meeting, Devine asked officials if they had pushed back to the school start time to 8:30 so children could stay out on the fields until later each night.

Other residents said the addition of lights at the middle school fields would create problems for the families who live near the park. They said many of those abutters have young children whose bedtimes would be impacted. 

Eileen Small said any further meetings focused on the lights should be held at a neutral site, not where the Barrington Parks and Recreation Commission normally meet. She also said that having quiet at night is hugely important to her. 

Heidi Fanion said noise coming from the middle school at night is already a problem. She said she used to play sports while growing up — when the sun went down, they stopped playing, Fanion said. 

Janine Wolf said the town has a very real field shortage. She said Barrington needs to place a moratorium on the loss of open space. She said the town cannot accommodate any more housing, adding that Barrington is at a crisis point with its athletic fields. 

“You cannot fit 10 pounds of potatoes into a five-pound bag,” she said. 

She said was against the lights, and tired of the meetings focused on athletic fields.