The lights were on at Barrington High School on Friday night, as the BHS football team hosted Cranston West for a Division I showdown. Now there’s an initiative to bring lights to the Barrington Middle School athletic fields, too. 

At their recent meeting, members of the Barrington Parks and Recreation Commission voted 6-1 to recommend pursuing the installation of lights at the middle school fields. Commission members said the lights are intended to expand the available field time at that location, which will help address the current shortage of field space in Barrington. 

As part of the $250 million school construction project, a number of athletic fields have been closed or completely destroyed. For example, at the high school, the varsity soccer field has been turned into a staging area for the work crews. At Sowams School, a Little League field was cleared out to make room for the school addition.

Barrington High School sports team have relied on the new synthetic turf field to compensate for the lack of field space, and increasing access to the middle school athletic fields could be a game-changer for the town’s youth sports leagues, say proponents. 

But while the initiative garnered support from the majority of Barrington Parks and Recreation Commission members, it faces push-back from some Roberta Plat neighbors, including Theresa Devine. The Barrington resident shared a letter with commission members recently. 

“There is no buffer between our properties and the fields,” Devine wrote. “Even with the new focused lighting you propose, we would not be fully shielded from the light.”

Devine wrote that the lights would allow for longer use of the fields and that would subject neighbors to more noise, potentially, “as the fields would undoubtedly be used nonstop during the warmer weather — April through October.”

Devine, in her letter, wrote that residents who live near the middle school already deal with noise and light from the tennis and pickle ball courts, basketball courts, and the parking lot. 

“We have been good neighbors about this activity,” she wrote. “We still enjoy a relatively peaceful existence. Most of the residents along the border have young children who are in bed early. And all of us enjoy quiet evenings.

“But your proposed lights and the activity they would bring would transform this charming neighborhood. They would have a large negative impact on our quality of life — and our property values, as well.”

Tom Rimoshytus does not agree. Rimoshytus, who made the motion to recommend the middle school lights initiative to the council, has heard residents complain about down-spiraling property values for a variety of issues, but there is no truth to the claim. Barrington property values continue to rise time and again, he said. 

“All the same old stories,” Rimoshytus wrote in a message to the Barrington Times.

In a followup interview, Rimoshytus said property values will not be negatively impacted. 

“I feel that they’ll be fine. I heard the same story when they were putting in Sweetbriar that our property values were going to diminish… I haven’t seen my property values doing anything but go up,” he said. 

Chianese vs. BMS

Barrington Parks and Recreation Commission member Mike Seward is not opposed to installing lights at the middle school athletic fields, but he is concerned about the funding that would cover the project. 

The commission’s proposal includes an estimated cost of $800,000, but Seward wrote that he expects the project could cost more than that. In a message to the Barrington Times, Seward wrote that spending money on the lights could impact the completion of field improvements at Chianese Park. 

The funding source for both projects is the remaining portion of the $5 million field improvement bond. 

“… doing this (installing lights at middle school) doesn't leave enough money to pay for a full size field at Chianese that we are waiting to get a plan with costs on,” Seward wrote. “Not building the Chianese field negates 10 years of work by numerous people and about $75,000 in research and development fees the Town has spent coming to this moment. More importantly, it takes away the Town’s ability to have an extra field to allow rehabilitation of the existing full-size fields in town on a recurring basis.”

Rimoshytus questioned Seward’s approach. He said the commission has not seen the new plan for Chianese yet, never mind voted on it. Rimoshytus also believes that the price tag for the Chianese Field improvements may exceed the funding available in the field improvements bond.

“I’m betting that proposal comes in at a little over $4 million,” he said.

Barrington Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman Joe Merrill wrote that this initiative is still in its beginning stages. He wrote that the proposal will next be sent to the town council for consideration. 

“If the Town Council wants to consider the proposal further, it will advise the commission on how it would like us to proceed,” Merrill wrote.