Supporting Nantucket’s Students And Community: Yes On Article 12

To the editor: On Monday at Town Meeting, voters face a clear choice: maintain the status quo or take a meaningful step forward. A “no” vote keeps aging, inadequate facilities. A “yes” vote on Article 12 is an investment in safe, functional spaces that expand opportunity, reduce injuries, and include ADA-accessible grandstands so all students and members of the community can attend and participate.

The project also includes modern, dark-sky compliant lighting that meets Nantucket’s Outdoor Lighting Bylaw, requiring shielded, low-lumen, warm-toned lighting to minimize light pollution. The idea that this project is out of character for Nantucket also falls short. What exists today, deteriorating grandstands, port-o-potties, and overused fields, does not reflect the standard this community strives for. The proposed design works with the land by building into the hillside, minimizing visual impact, improving accessibility, and creating a more integrated space. This is not a choice between values. It is a choice between a system we know is failing and one designed to meet the needs of our students and community today.

The recent letter opposing this project leans on hypothetical risks rather than the reality on our own campus. Nantucket already has a synthetic turf field that is heavily used year-round, sometimes supporting up to 15 different teams in a single week, and it remains an integral part of our youth and high school athletic programs as well as the Nantucket adult soccer league. Meanwhile, our natural grass fields are patched with mulch to fill holes created by overuse. That is what our students are playing on today.

Safe grass fields are designed for about 600 hours of annual use. Ours sees more than 1,300 hours, leaving it worn, uneven, and unsafe. A properly utilized turf field can replace the need for multiple grass fields, which we do not have the space or resources to build or maintain. The proposed field will also undergo comprehensive evaluation before installation, including EPA Method 1633 testing, the gold standard for detecting PFAS in solid materials, along with SPLP leaching analysis. Maintaining grass at this level would require significant fertilizer, irrigation, and ongoing inputs applied without containment, and this is not an NFL or FIFA program with unlimited manpower to maintain pristine conditions.

Yes to Article 12. Yes to our kids and community.

Kate Garrette
Graham Veysey
Kim Latlippe
Erin Myers