The grounds outside Barrington Middle School currently feature two full-length basketball courts, acres of multi-purpose playing fields, a baseball diamond, and a large concrete rebound wall. There are also three tennis courts tucked into the southwestern corner of the school's campus. And just about all of those features stand to be impacted by the proposed middle school construction project. Plans for a new middle school drafted by the firm Kaestle Boos Associates, call for the relocation of athletic fields to the southern half of the property. The plans also call for the construction of two new basketball courts and two new tennis courts near the northern edge of campus. The plans do not show where the recently-erected rebound wall would be located. According to school department officials, there is currently about 272,000 square feet of athletic field space at the middle school, but that figure would drop to 264,000 square feet with the proposed new middle school. "Per KBA (Kaestle Boos Associates): The overlap of one of the two soccer/lacrosse fields with the baseball field in the 'new' option precludes the use of both fields at the same time," stated a recent email from the school district. Officials did not have an estimate for athletic field space for the renovated middle school plan. It was less than 15 years ago when Barrington officials refurbished the athletic fields at the middle school. The town was able to win a grant from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to help pay for the project. The once run-down fields — they had actually been closed off to sports teams for a period of time — were completely renovated and in-ground irrigation was added. A few years later, the town constructed new basketball courts at the school, and in May 2014, a rebound wall was raised. (East Bay Lacrosse and Barrington Youth Soccer paid for the rebound wall.) Some officials have questioned whether the town would have to reimburse the DEM grant money if the field was destroyed as part of the project. Others have said the loss of any field space in town is unacceptable. Barrington Town Council President June Speakman said in an earlier interview that she is opposed to a reduction in athletic field space in town. She said she has worked had to improve athletic facilities in Barrington and referenced the new middle school basketball courts and the Little League field at Sherwood Park.