It Is Time To Bring Our Athletic Facilities Up To Date

To the editor: The recent actions of certain members of the Board of Health to halt the school athletics improvement plan are overshadowing the true purpose of this project. This plan is about far more than a playing surface. It is about bringing our facilities up to code. It is about accessibility, safety, reliability, and strengthening our community. The plan is intended to create safe, reliable playing fields. Given the budget and constraints of living on a small island, we have two choices: one is to use materials that are non-detect and contain no intentionally added PFAS, addressing both usage demands and limited land availability; the other is to attempt to resurrect a natural grass surface that has not been sustainable, despite best practices and limited use, by relying on heavy applications of nitrogen fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, and approximately 1.7 million gallons of irrigation per year.

It is important to remember that when a previous version of this plan from 2021 was shut down in 2022, not a single member of the Board of Health, or the School Committee members who have served on both iterations, offered a viable alternative. The proposal was not even allowed to come to a vote. Public comment was not allowed and it was dismissed without giving the community an opportunity to have its voice heard. That is not how a healthy democratic process should function, and it is not what our community deserves.

In the years since, there has been no meaningful progress toward a solution by those who shut it down. Years to do something to address the concerns. Years to collaborate with the Land Bank. Years to identify a viable organic maintenance plan. Years to find a sustainable approach to maintaining the current field, and years to find a resolution to the ongoing issues of limited field space, inadequate lighting, or the complete lack of ADA compliance. Rather than working toward solutions, efforts have focused on blocking progress. The playbook by the opposition this time around? It has been the exact same. Block the plan without offering a practical or achievable solution.

The letter from the Sierra Club published (by the Inky) does exactly that, making statements that fail to take into account the actual conditions and concerns of the island. This project is not removing eight acres of natural habitat. It is land that has been developed, compacted, or actively maintained for over 30 years. It is in no way comparable to forest, wetland, or native habitat.

There are many additional claims in this copy-and-paste letter from the Sierra Club that can be debunked with even a simple search. Please stop relying on misinformation and fear to shape public policy. It is unacceptable.

Meanwhile, the synthetic grass industry itself has continued to evolve. Materials and technologies are advancing to become safer, more environmentally responsible, and increasingly recyclable. Yet, instead of acknowledging these improvements, some continue to rely on misinformation, outdated research and outside advocacy groups who have been pulled into every meeting in an attempt to undermine the work of the elected school committee. The only tangible result of delaying this project has been a multi-million-dollar increase in cost. And that result will be the only thing that is guaranteed to grow if this plan is stalled again.

If environmental concerns are truly at the center of this debate, then they must be applied consistently. There are many potential contributors to contamination in our environment, yet this scrutiny is being directed at a single project. Will the same standards be applied to the 312,000 tons of sand being trucked to our coastline? Will the truckloads of sod delivered to the island be required to meet or exceed drinking water standards? Will we begin limiting what can be placed in our landfill that directly leaches into our soil? Will the BOH be changing all standards across the board to be more stringent than what is called for at the state and national levels? If contamination is the real concern, then identifying and addressing the most significant sources would better serve the entire community.

Our community deserves safe, accessible, and reliable facilities. It is time to move beyond obstruction and focus on solutions. It is time to bring our facilities up to date and provide our community with what it needs, not what it wants, but what it needs.

Sincerely,
Erin Myers