Letter: Response to 8 reasons to reject Haines Park plan

Posted 5/4/22

To the editor:

I feel obliged to clarify facts in response to Josh Bickford’s April 27 editorial about the 8 reasons to reject the Haines Park plan.

The two proposed fields at Haines …

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Letter: Response to 8 reasons to reject Haines Park plan

Posted

To the editor:

I feel obliged to clarify facts in response to Josh Bickford’s April 27 editorial about the 8 reasons to reject the Haines Park plan.

The two proposed fields at Haines park are intended to solve the problem associated with the multi-use field being in the outfield of the new middle school complex. The western-most multi-use field being considered for development at Haines will be used when the outfield of the middle school baseball field is unusable because baseball is playing on it (in the spring). This is the sole purpose of that field: to alleviate the overlap problem at the middle school. The eastern-most multi-use field being considered for development at Haines (which will overlap the current senior league baseball field at Haines Park) is only to be utilized as a back-up, if it is necessary in the event we need to rest one of the other four full-size multi-use fields in town because of over-use. If we use the back-up field at Haines to “rest” another full-size field, we will pursue a schedule work-around for that year with senior league baseball. Most likely we would only need the back-up field in the fall anyway, as that is the time when grass would grow best on the field we are “resting”. Therefore, no scheduling work-around would likely be necessary, as baseball’s primary season is in the spring.

The Barrington Ad-Hoc field Committee engaged in many hours of discussion and research before this Haines plan was settled on. School properties, conservation land, the Zion Bible property were all considered, as was the potential field layout to avoid excessive tree removal and increase parking.  Our past experience with the concerns of abutting landowners was also taken into consideration.  

All of these field development factors were well known by town officials and the Park & Recreation Commission prior to the Ad-Hoc Committee establishment in 2019. The employment of a landscape architect to a put a potential plan on paper in January of 2020, prior to the actual Ad-Hoc Committee report in October of 2021, was not some kind of fait accompli. It was a part of the field assessment process, and it was in order to obtain more precise information. In fact, the final Ad-Hoc committee report recommends field development at Haines Park as a solution to the scheduling problem identified by the scheduling subcommittee. Josh Bickford’s comment in his editorial “Predictably, the committee gave a lukewarm and unclear endorsement of the plan, without listing it in its final report”, is untrue.

The field configuration does bring it close to Washington Road. The possibility of putting a safety fence along Washington Road to keep balls from rolling into the street is part of the plan.

Mr. Bickford in his editorial seems to be portraying Barrington’s volunteer committees and public employees, as somehow not being motivated by the interests of the residents of Barrington. I disagree!

Mike Seward

Barrington

Mike Seward is Barrington Park & Recreation Commission Chairman.

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