With Veterans Field at Kickemuit Middle School prone to flooding and in dire need of a “rest” after nearly 50 years of continuous use, Warren Parks and Recreation Director Tara Thibaudeau was excited to announce that a new multipurpose recreation field should be ready for action by April.

“This is going to be an enhancement to the whole community,” she said during a recent interview. “Veterans Field has become a safety issue. One of these days a kid is going to get their cleat stuck, because it’s all mud and dirt, and someone is going to have a serious injury.”

The six-acre field, located on a piece of land north of the Warren Recreation Park that was once used by farmers to stockpile hay and silage corn, was purchased by the town in 2001 for $440,000 to utilize as open space. Originally it was envisioned as a key piece of a plan to expand the Warren Recreation Park, or possibly a place to build a new elementary school upon.

But no such plans materialized and the field sat unused until the town initiated a new plan to create a multipurpose recreation field, beginning back in 2017. The town has spent over $50,000 repairing the field, including recent work in 2019 removing large boulders and grading the surface.

Thibaudeau said that the field would host soccer, lacrosse, baseball and football practices and games. The general public would also have access to the field when not in use. The hours of access to the field have not been finalized at this time, but it has been established that there will be no lighting erected at the field.

Abutters weigh in
During the Warren Town Council’s February meeting, numerous abutters to the field made public comments voicing their opposition or apprehension regarding the placement of the field, which sits in close proximity to a neighborhood to the north that includes Asylum Road, Colonial Drive, Paul Court, Colin Circle, and Alex Drive.

Amy Andrade, a Colin Circle resident, spoke about how the neighborhood did not become aware of the project until the summer of 2019, when they began to notice work going on in the field — which at one point resulted in a large amount of dust being kicked up into the neighborhood during what she believed to be aerating of the field.

Andrade summarized numerous concerns, primarily how people would access the field and where people would park in order to get to the field, increased traffic in the area, noise, potential property damage from errant baseballs, and potential drainage issues from the field affecting the neighborhood.

“A public park in a residential, quiet neighborhood,” she told the Council. “That doesn’t sit very well with us, and I hope you can all understand why. Because if you were in our shoes, I think you would feel the same exact way.”

Following a community meeting with town officials, Andrade said that the neighbors were asked to come up with a list of concessions they wanted the town to consider, such as posting signage and blocking off Paul Court from access by the regular public.

“We had been asked to come up with some concessions, to meet with people, and Mr. [Bob] Rulli [Town Planning Director] and Mr. [Steve] Calenda [Town Council Vice President] were kind enough to meet with us, but it just feels like on our end there has been a lack of transparency,” Andrade said. “And maybe you guys don’t feel that way, but we feel like we’re fighting for the right to continue to live in a very quiet, peaceful neighborhood. It’s trouble free, it’s traffic-free. We chose this neighborhood because of the quality of life it afforded us.”

Douglas Sampson, a Paul Court resident and a lifelong resident of Warren, took issue with the plan as a whole.

“I’m not here to say that more space is a bad thing, but I am here to point out there is a better way to carry out this plan,” he said, adding that he grew up and made many memories on the playing fields in Warren. “But as an adult, and a husband, and a father and a taxpayer, I can say that more fields isn’t what this town needs. Growing up, I’ve watched all these fields get under-utilized, in my opinion…Here it is proposed that we add another, rather than improving the ones we have.”

Thibaudeau presented numbers to the Council which gave estimates for how much money it would cost to restore Veterans Field to a playable condition, versus doing necessary work to get the new recreation field operational. The estimates showed it would cost between $270,000 to $340,000 (depending on the approach) to restore Veterans Field, versus $40,000 to $60,000 to finish work at the new field, which includes the recommendation of constructing a small water retention area at the west end of the field for surface drainage purposes.

Thibaudeau also insisted that giving Veterans Field a “rest”, where nobody uses the field for any purpose to give the land time to recover, was vital, since normally fields are supposed to be given a rest every three years.

“Veterans Field has never gotten a rest,” she said.

Meeting neighbors’ concerns
Representatives from the Council, and Thibaudeau, indicated that Paul Court would only be utilized by emergency personnel and DPW workers to access the field. Members of the public would be instructed to park along Cole School Road or utilize the Hugh Cole parking lot, and access the field from the south through a new pathway off of Asylum Road.

The town also commissioned a drainage study, completed in November by BL Companies of Meriden, Conn., on both Veterans Field and the multipurpose field. The report concluded that the condition of Veterans field was significantly poor in certain areas and that the new field was in much better condition. It also concluded that standing water was not observed during their site visit to the new recreation field — although some neighbors disputed this conclusion.

Town Council member Keri Cronin said in response to abutters’ comments that the town should re-examine their list of concessions and find “low hanging fruit” to show that their concerns have been taken seriously, such as posting proper signage to ensure people do not park or try to access the field through the neighborhood.

“I think it would be pretty easy to agree which [concessions] are reasonable and could be done easily to provide some relief and satisfaction,” Cronin said.

Andrade said she appreciated the gesture, but pushed hard for a more significant buffer to be established between the field and the neighborhood.

“Signs would be wonderful but I'll be honest, if we could get a line of trees planted…Our concern is people accessing the field from our neighborhood and vice versa. I think you can all understand that,” she said.”

Council President John Healey addressed abutters at the end of the public hearing to try and ease concerns.

“We did hear what you’re saying. Our leaders have heard what you’re saying. We will do the best that we can to address your concerns,” he said. “We don’t want to, for lack of a better term, bulldoze you. But the park was always planned, well before your houses were built, it was always intended to be a park. That’s why we bought it. That’s what we invested in. And we’re going to obey what the drainage study says and do our best to mitigate any impact it’s going to have on you.”