Score wins for the Parks and Recreation and Conservation commissioners, who reached agreement this week on use of the conservation parcel on Ann Lees Road as a regulation softball field.
A memorandum of understanding, dated Nov. 19 and signed by both commissions, grants Parks and Recreation use of the 3.08-acre parcel of town conservation land for softball and other recreational activities, and ends a debate over who will be responsible for managing the ballfield’s upkeep and use.
Approved unanimously (5-0) by both boards, the agreement specifies that the responsibility now rests with Parks and Rec. The field’s outer boundary will be extended from 180 feet to 200 feet to meet Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association requirements for varsity softball. The temporary outfield fence currently in place will be moved, but will not, at the request of ConCom, be replaced by a permanent structure at this time. Parks and Rec will also ensure that a 15-foot swath beyond the fence will be maintained as a buffer between the field and adjacent wetlands. Requests for additional work on the field, whether by a private, school, or town organization, must be approved by both ConCom and Parks and Rec.
In a joint email to the Press, ConCom Chair Don Ritchie and member Wendy Sisson wrote that the commission was happy to negotiate an MOU with Parks and Rec “so that they can successfully operate and care for the new girls softball field.”
The email continued: “The softball field was sited at Ann Lees Road on an emergency basis, and while the existing neighborhood ballfield was an allowable use on conservation land, a regulation softball field is not. Because of the multiple functions of this land for conservation and as a neighborhood park and the physical constraints of the site, both Park and Rec and ConCom hope that a good site for the softball field will be identified in the future and that the Ann Lees field can then be used as a practice field, which would lessen demands on the site and bring resolution to the current situation.”
The signing of the memo is the latest move in a long-running contest for control, maintenance, and funding of the field on Ann Lees Road. The field was constructed in fits and starts by DPW and third parties at a cost to taxpayers of $40,000. The work was done without the oversight of Parks and Rec, but benefitted from the involvement of town volunteers who provided finishing touches such as the equipment shed moved from the elementary school when construction of the school began.
This fiscal year, the active players have included the Department of Public Works, ConCom, and Parks and Rec, but other interested parties are watching, including the Harvard Youth Baseball and Softball Association and the Harvard schools athletic department, both of which will use the facility and could be asked to help pay for maintenance and improvements.
What’s next?
Several decisions remain. What work will be required each year to maintain the field, and what methods will ConCom allow? What further improvements are required to achieve equity with the varsity baseball field on Pond Road and prepare for spring competition? And where will the money come from to pay for all this?
Clues can be found in three documents: first, a blanket notice of intent addressed to the Conservation Commission that describes in detail how Parks and Rec proposes to weed, seed, fertilize, aerate, and generally maintain all of the town’s fields, including the Ann Lees field, whether the work is done by DPW or third parties; second, a draft yearly maintenance plan that lists the respective responsibilities of DPW and Parks and Rec for getting that work done; and finally, Parks and Rec’s budget submission for fiscal 2022.
None of these documents has been approved, but the Press has seen drafts of all three. The intent notice is being negotiated with the Conservation Commission and is required because every town field now under the auspices of Parks and Rec, including the Ann Lees field, is within 200 feet of wetlands. Crucially, the memorandum signed this week cannot be executed until that notice has been reviewed and approved by both the state Department of Environmental Protection and ConCom. Watch for a hearing this winter.
The draft annual maintenance plan lists over 30 tasks spread across spring, summer, and fall. The plan assigns the work of leveling, mowing, mulching, liming, fertilizing, weeding, irrigating, and all the other jobs needed to properly maintain a field to the DPW, which is expected to provide workers and equipment; Parks and Rec is responsible, as it has always been, for purchasing supplies.
Getting the work done and paying for supplies depends, however, on the amount of money available to the two organizations. Both have submitted their fiscal 2022 budgets to the Select Board and Finance Committee, and these will be reviewed sometime in January 2021. But Parks and Rec has already warned that there is a gap in its fiscal 2022 field budget, and that it needs an additional $20,000 to properly maintain every field under its management. The DPW says that to implement its part of the plan it will need a part-time DPW groundskeeper for five months at an additional cost of approximately $16,232. DPW is already committed to providing two workers as needed to support the work.
The gap “has led to poor maintenance and explains why residents show up at [Parks and Rec] meetings with photos of how bad the fields are. This gap has also contributed to Title 9 inequities,” wrote Parks and Rec Chair Bob O’Shea in the commission’s budget submission. He said that closing the gap is the commission’s highest priority.
In the case of the Ann Lees field, the commission estimates that with a level-funded fiscal 2022 budget—as the Select Board and Finance Committee have requested—it could afford to spend $2,746 on its upkeep; to properly maintain it, however, would take $4,629 plus the labor and equipment provided by DPW.
What gets decided for the Ann Lees field has ramifications for other playing fields in town, including the Ryan Land, Depot Road, Pond Road, McCurdy Track/Harvard Park, and Charlie Waite fields, all of which were placed under Parks and Rec management by a two-thirds vote of 2020 Spring Town Meeting. The field on Ann Lees Road was not included in that vote because it is conservation land and Parks and Rec needed the permission of the Conservation Commission to manage it. But every other field in that list requires upkeep as well, and what gets done will depend on the money Parks and Rec has in its budget and the number of workers DPW can make available to do it.
Still, the signing of the ConCom and Parks and Rec memo is a first for the two groups. O’Shea says he hopes to negotiate a similar agreement with the schools for fields that remain under their control. The notice currently under negotiation with ConCom will likely be presented for commission approval when it next meets on Dec. 21.
