Nantucket Public Schools Unveil Revised Plan For New Athletic Complex With Natural Grass Fields

The Nantucket Public School administration unveiled a new plan to renovate its athletic complexes during Monday’s School Committee meeting, presenting a proposal that calls for an asphalt track, new buildings, and a PFAS-free natural grass playing field.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the project will cost around $15-18 million and take at least two years to finish. The school administration and the School Committee both believe that the investment is necessary to upgrade the school’s ageing athletic facilities.

“We're at a point where we don't really have a choice. We have got to move forward with this project,” Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett said. “The field condition that we currently have is acceptable, but not nearly what we would really want it to be for the safety of our players and the needs of our student athletes. So my hope is that we can move quickly with this.”

Members of the School Committee echoed her comments.

“I quite like this,” School Committee member Vince Murphy said. “I appreciate change is difficult and people want to have multi-use surfaces, but looking at it all in context...I like this.”

Three years ago, NPS floated a $17.5 million proposal to install two artificial turf fields as part of a larger campus-wide facilities improvement project, but backed down after facing intense opposition from local groups concerned about the impacts of the so-called “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, which have been tied to cancer and other health problems. This new project, which involves replacing the existing football field, calls for natural grass rather than turf, which contains PFAS used in the manufacturing process.

The new athletic complexes will also feature bathrooms, improved ADA compliance, a new booster and concessions building, lighting that complies with dark sky regulations, and new bleachers.

NPS will need the support of the voters at the upcoming Annual Town Meeting next May to proceed with the project. Some opposition has already materialized.

“If they put a track around that field, the football field, they will be making the hugest mistake they could be making,” Select Board vice chair Matt Fee said at a recent Select Board meeting. “We have the nicest venue to play at and to view sports at, and if we put a track around it, everyone’s going to be 30-40 feet away…I think that we should be very careful about turning that into what everybody else has. I think we have something that’s unbelievably special.”

Additionally, construction will disrupt several high school sports and classes, forcing teams to find alternative locations for their games.

“It is going to be tricky, and it's not going to be an easy project,” said NPS director of facilities and grounds Chip Clunie. “Those fields are used throughout the school day…it is going to be an invasive process as far as our day-to-day routines, but in the long run, we'll have a beautiful stadium with a track, and it will be great.”