Looks can be deceiving, and that's certainly the case with the multi-purpose athletic field in the rear of the Riverside Middle School campus off Forbes Street.

With its new, deep black fencing, towering light posts, fresh netting and flourescent yellow football goal posts all in position, the field appears ready for play.

However, its highly-anticipated opening will be delayed for likely at least another year after the contractor erred in grading the playing surface for drainage.

Ward 4 City Councilor Rick Lawson, in whose district RMS is located, said Thursday, Aug. 1, he was recently informed about the stagnant status of the project, which began some two years ago, by the administration of Mayor Bob DaSilva.

Lawson said he was told YardWorks, the contractor hired by the city to complete the project, did slope the surface properly to allow for run-off, meaning any time there is a reasonably significant amount of rainfall the field is flooded. Lawson said the water tends to pool on the side closest to the RMS building.

When finished and available for use, the regulation size football/soccer field is expected to be used by Riverside Middle School sports teams as well as the East Providence Junior Townies football organization, the East Providence Mohawks lacrosse program and the East Providence Youth Soccer teams. It would replace the tiny grassy area in front of the school RMS teams use and also offer an adjunct to the heavily-trafficked Riverside Rec fields.

"When I asked (the administration) if it would be ready this fall for the Jr. Townies, I was told no," said Lawson, adding DaSilva's Chief of Staff Patricia Resende noted as well it would also not be available to the EPYSA either.

The field and the associated parking lot were spawned by the decades-long problem of traffic congestion created at the adjacent Riverside Rec Complex.

Past Councils initially sought to just expand the RMS parking lot. Upon taking office as East Providence's first elected mayor in 2019, though, DaSilva suggested the larger parking lot project be reduced with the addition of the grass surface athletic field.

Allocations to cover the cost of the project, some $415,000, were put in place by the previously-seated Council in 2022, using a combination of existing unencumbered Capital Improvement monies at the time along with about $100,000 of the city's federal COVID-19 relief American Rescue Plan Act funds.

“I’m glad to see the administration finally getting on the contractor to get this project done. I have a hard time seeing how a grass field takes years to build but let’s hope it gets finished soon and folks can start using it," said Lawson.

In addition, Lawson his frustration with the administration over its handling of the RMS project as well as that of the former Oldham School on Bullocks Point Avenue and the Crescent Park "Clam Shack" will make "hard for me voting for new projects until (those) get going."

One last note about the RMS field, Lawson said he intends to sponsor a resolution naming the field after the late Alfred "Big Al" Santie, the revered city resident and youth sports advocate. Santie, who passed away in 2007, was a long-time Little League, youth football and CYO basketball coach in Riverside.