The plan to build new synthetic turf fields at Barrington Middle School cleared an important hurdle on Thursday night, March 28.

Members of the Barrington School Committee voted unanimously to send the proposal to Barrington voters on the November ballot.  

The 5-0 vote by the School Committee marked the second victory for the proposal, after three members of the Barrington Town Council initially approved sending the plan to school board. 

Barrington Town Council Vice President Rob Humm said he was happy to see School Committee members allow the plan to move forward. He said the synthetic turf fields at Barrington Middle School will be a shared community asset — a venue that will benefit students, athletes, and the community.

“I’m very happy to have cleared this milestone,” Humm said. “There’s a few more to come but I’m looking forward to working on them.”

Before the proposal went to a vote on Thursday night, George Finn shared a presentation about the district’s athletic fields and facilities. 

Finn, the director of athletics for Barrington Schools, told Committee members that local athletic fields are overused. He said there was simply not enough time to complete any significant maintenance because the best time to work on fields is during the fall season, but that is also when demand on the fields is greatest, with nearly a half-dozen BHS sports teams competing.

Finn said his preference would be to have a synthetic turf field at the high school, but he added that building any synthetic turf fields in town would help the athletic program at Barrington High School.

Finn shared information about how certain teams need a synthetic turf surface — he specifically mentioned the field hockey program, which is the only Division I program in the state that does not have a synthetic turf surface. 

Finn also said that if the community is going to build synthetic turf fields, they need to outfit them with lights. Overhead lighting will allow for increased usage of the fields, he said. 

The later school start (and dismissal) time in Barrington limits how much daylight is available for games after school. The traffic on the Washington Bridge in Providence has compounded the issue, Finn said. 

The BHS Director of Athletics said construction of synthetic turf fields at the middle school will also allow the town to rest other natural grass fields and complete much-needed maintenance. Finn added that the new synthetic turf fields at BMS will help Barrington build some very good natural grass playing fields. 

Finn also detailed some of the challenges officials should consider when building synthetic turf fields: many programs will want to use the surface — a schedule will need to be ironed out; athletes will need access to restroom facilities; the synthetic turf surface needs to be maintained, and special equipment may be required.

But despite the challenges, Finn placed his full support behind the effort to build synthetic turf fields in town. 

“Our community needs a synthetic surface,” Finn said. “I’ve been saying it for years.” 

Finn also addressed some of the statements made earlier in the fields discussions. He said the synthetic turf field products he has been looking at are PFAS-free. Finn said the fields are fully recyclable, and the infill products they are considering are organic. He also mentioned a synthetic turf surface that does not require infill. 

Shared usage

Later in the meeting, members of the School Committee asked Finn a variety of questions about the proposal.

Patrick McCrann asked what the usage of the synthetic turf field would look like. 

Finn said the field hockey team would have priority usage. Finn also detailed a possible schedule where school sports teams would use the synthetic turf fields right after school, local youth sports would have access during the dinner-time block (between 5 or 5:30 until around 7:30), and then high school teams would be able to play on it after that. 

Megan Douglas asked about high school athletes using the locker rooms, but Finn said high school teams would not be using the BMS locker rooms. Douglas also asked how the maintenance would be funded. 

Humm offered a response. He said the maintenance would come from the operating budgets. He also said the field maintenance budget will be doubled.

Committee members voiced some concerns and questions, but showed their desire to send the question to Barrington taxpayers. 

Eventually, the Committee’s attorney suggested that the approval could be conditional on a series of details that can be ironed out by Council and Committee members later. 

TJ Peck made a motion to include the proposal on the November referendum conditional on a written agreement between school and town officials. Frazier Bell seconded the motion, which passed by a 5-0 vote. 

Humm was pleased that the proposal will continue to move forward.

“I’m very appreciative of the School Committee’s support for the proposal and look forward to working together with them to come to some agreement,” Humm said.