Natick Fall Annual Town Meeting begins on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at Kennedy Middle School at 7:30pm, with the town’s elected legislative body set to go through more than 30 articles on subsequent Tuesdays and Thursdays until it finishes. Last year’s fall session lasted for four nights.
Why should you care? Because decisions will be made that will affect the entire town as well as possibly your neighborhood. That’ll be true for those who live near 5 Auburn St., Memorial Elementary School, or in West Natick, among other places
Natick has collected Town Meeting materials, including the warrant of articles, on its website. Natick Pegasus has posted a series of four primer videos as well, including those that dive into zoning articles and the School Committee’s funding request for a Memorial Elementary School feasibility study (Article 10). Town Moderator Jeff Alderson hosts the videos, with special guests from Community & Economic Development, the School Committee, the town administrator, and others.
The Finance Committee, which vets articles and the motions within them ahead of Town Meeting, also hosts a website, where you can find its recommendation book and an unofficial vote tracker.
Town Meeting is open to the general public, but there are rules about where you can sit and what actions you can take during the meeting if you are not a Town Meeting member.
A Saner Means to Achieve a Goal for our Natick Youth
At Tuesday’s Natick Town Meeting, a member spoke to the worsening shortage of athletic fields and play time for schools, town youth and general community use. The member urged Town Meeting members to be heard on this issue so that steps might be taken to strengthen an action plan. As a co-sponsor of Article 33 to be considered Thursday, October 23, at Town Meeting, I concur with the member’s request, as do my peers.
In their 5 year capital plan, NPS proposes to add artificial turf field to replace a JV grass field for a projected $2.2 million installation cost – the same amount as was spent a few years ago on the Kennedy Middle School artificial turf field.. This is a very expensive alternative to gain playable hours on one field. It barely begins to address the larger problem of increasing overall playing time Natick. We are not in favor of this proposal.
The capital spending needed for artificial turf would come on the heels of the $7 million dollar override and and the $.5 million dollars spent to replace the plastic and rubber surface on the NHS Memorial Field. We should not hope to fix this community-wide challenge by taking on more debt to buy one shiny, new plastic field with only a 10 year life cycle. During the years before 2030, our debt limit will be seriously constraining capital spending and will need to be used for more urgent matters.
Other nearby towns like Wayland have invested far more wisely by renovating grass athletic fields that are in poor shape. The work includes proper grading and improved drainage, irrigation and soil with compost. Better grass varieties for rugged sports along with new techniques of mowing are being successfully used on college campuses like Yale for their varsity sports.
For the same amount of money, as an artificial turf field, two or three natural grass fields can be renovated and maintained to increase play time on each field, doubling or tripling the total amount of play time possible on a single plastic field. Community Preservation Act funding can be allocation for grass field renovation, but can no longer be used for artificial turf. Beyond Plastics offers grants to plan and supervise an installation of proper grass fields. This is a responsible way to achieve the goal of increasing play time in town for everyone.
The Article 33 motion, which will come up first thing at Thursday’s Town Meeting, proposes a 3 year Advisory during a non-binding moratorium on new artificial turf installations. During this time a natural grass field renovation can be piloted to demonstrate its effectiveness as it has in other MA towns like Marblehead.
We urge Town Meeting and the community at large to show its support for addressing this responsible alternative.
Rick Devereux, 40 Sienna Lane, Natick, MA