New playing fields challenged by neighbors, selectmen
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Citing destruction of native habitat (around 18 acres will be leveled), the added inconveniences of trash, noise and traffic congestion, the belief that Tom Nevers is a more viable location, and that the town cannot manage its existing ball fields, neighbors near the proposed site of four new multipurpose playing fields at 81 Milestone Road are questioning the necessity of developing 31.3 acres of land owned by the Nantucket Islands Land Bank.

"Tom Nevers is an underutilized area," said Dusty Ramos, a resident of the area. "It is already cleared and could easily be made into a sports complex area. Bathrooms are already available, and the roller hockey rink and go cart track have already been removed, or will be, and that gives a lot of space. Why is this not even being considered?

"I personally think there is plenty of field space on this island already and it just needs to be managed properly and that includes not just spreading fertilizer, but proper scheduling and security also."

However, the Parks and Recreation Department believes with conviction that overuse of the town's fields is already well beyond tolerable usage levels because it regularly denies use requests. Parks and Rec also believes that there are not enough acres in Tom Nevers to meet the town's needs - and that is before potential erosion effects are taken into account.

As soon as possible, preferably by 2009, Parks and Rec, with the help of the Nantucket Islands Land Bank, would like to start construction of four new ball fields at the corner of Milestone and Nobadeer Farm roads.

"The problem is the fields as they are now don't get any rest," said Parks and Recreation Commission member Jack Gardner. "We wear them out with so much use that every now and then you need to leave them alone; you have to let them sit for a month during the growing season."

Two new fields will be surfaced with artificial turf, requiring no downtime, while the natural grass fields will be given time to recover when needed.

Adding four more playing fields to fields already in place in Tom Nevers, at the Delta fields and at the high school and elementary school, where two more fields are to be added on Backus Lane, should give all of Nantucket's playing fields a rest and island sports teams some breathing room for at least 10 years, Gardner said.

"Little League has grown so big that they need more fields and that's going to take up all the room at the Delta fields, but then we have to build a soccer field and lacrosse, too, and these aren't only for the kids, but the young adults in the summertime because those leagues have grown as well," he noted.

The Milestone Road property is the ideal spot for the four new fields, according to Land Bank Executive Director Eric Savetsky, not only because of its proximity to three island schools and existing ball fields, but because it is one of the Land Bank's least environmentally sensitive parcels and is in the RC district near a developed area.

"It's very close to the airport and close to a lot of different kids' places: Strong Wings, the New School, Small Friends and the Delta fields," he said. "It's a good sized property in that there can be buffers all around the property to screen the uses so it doesn't impact people who live around the property. Also, it's a scrub oak, pitch pine lot; there's nothing significant ecologically about the property."

But to make sure, the Land Bank, which is securing all of the permits for Parks and Rec, did a survey of the property's plant and animal life required by the state's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. The endangered species that the Land Bank found were on the periphery of the lot, so to avoid damaging the Nantucket shadbush, bushy rockrose, New England blazing star and endangered moths found on the property, the Land Bank altered the plan.

"Basically, myself and another botanist did some plant searches and found plants mostly along the roadside and on the west side," said Land Bank property manager Bruce Perry. "We moved the fields away from there and also away from the abutters, so there will be no plants impacted."

For the endangered moths that will lose habitat, Perry added that the Land Bank, following the state's habitat replacement requirement of 2:1, will set aside 38 acres of its holdings between Milestone and Polpis roads for the moths.

However, none of this happens until Parks and Rec gets the money. Lacking sufficient funds - the estimated cost for the project that includes bathrooms and 130 parking spaces is $4,366,483.98 - the new fields are on hold for now.

The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) and Town Meeting voters gave Parks and Rec $400,000 last year, and Parks and Rec has submitted a capital request for $3.1 million for consideration at April's Town Meeting, but the additional $1 million it is seeking from the CPC this year already got a negative recommendation

from the Board of Selectmen at its Oct. 3 meeting. I