A large part of Chianese Park is a literal wasteland. Much of the park is capped landfill — a vast expanse of mostly open space, surrounded by private residences.

The Town of Barrington recently invested in a small corner of the park, spending $250,000 on basketball, pickleball and a tennis court at the southeast end of the park. Directly across a dirt parking lot is a small baseball field, surrounded by fencing, that gives Little League a foothold at that end of the park. Beyond that is a space for one or two youth soccer fields.

The rest is nothingness — acres of grass with no distinct purpose. It was never intended to become a sports complex, but that has been its calling, at times. When the town has needed more field space during the busiest seasons; when the middle school was being torn down and rebuilt; when volunteer organizations launched new programs and were told the town had no available spaces … Chianese has been the answer.

But it has never been a good answer.

An entire generation of young athletes have grown up playing sports like soccer, girls’ and boys’ lacrosse, flag football, unified soccer and more on “fields” that are uneven and unsafe. They are poorly graded, poorly draining patches of grass, no better than one would find in a mediocre backyard.

Improving the Chianese fields would be costly, likely millions of dollars, and often when someone develops a plan town officials cringe, saying it is too expensive. They also get an earful from a handful of neighbors, a few of whom showed up at a Barrington Parks and Recreation Commission meeting last week to shoot down the latest Chianese improvement plan.

So Chianese sits, as it always has, with no clear vision and no plan for improvement. It could be a center for healthy activity, with a fitness trail winding throughout. It could house a playground designed for children of all abilities. It could host two or three quality sports fields. With creativity, it could do all of the above.

Instead, the town seems content to let it lie, as a literal wasteland. Instead of serving the needs of thousands of Barrington residents, it can continue to serve as a great place to walk the dog — if you happen to live close enough.