New Track and Turf Football Field Proposed

It worked at the Sprague Fields, so Athletic Director John Brown is using the same model of including as many voices as possible in plans to renovate Hunnewell Field with a new track and turf field for football, soccer and lacrosse.

Brown went before the School Committee last night to introduce a plan to establish a task force, informally dubbed the Hunnewell Field Task Force, to begin the process of coming up with a workable plan for upgrading the track and grass football field at the high school.

Plans could also include adding lights at the field.

“It’s just not the quality field we need at this time,” Brown said, adding that next season Wellesley will be the only town in its league playing afternoon football games on grass.

Brown said he learned a valuable lesson four years ago when the initial proposal for a turf field at Sprague School was defeated by Town Meeting. The following year Town Meeting voted for an expanded field complex, but only after a task force that included representatives from town boards, town athletic groups and neighbors reached a consensus.

“We learned a lot about how the process works so we’d like to get the same kind of group involved,” Brown said.

That group would include neighbors along Smith and Rice Streets and the surrounding neighborhood.

“Obviously there will be people with concerns and we want to make sure all those concerns are heard and addressed. We don’t want to leave anyone out,” he said.

Exactly how the new track and turf field will be paid for is something Brown said will be up to the task force to figure out.

“We are really at the early stages and we haven’t figured that out yet,” he said.

But what is clear is that it won’t be cheap.

“We know it will cost quite a bit to do it right, and we want to do it right,” he said.

That includes changing the layout of the track  to allow a turf field that not only fits a regulation football field, but would also meet the requirements for soccer and lacrosse. Right now, only varsity football can be played at Hunnewell, varsity lacrosse, soccer and field hockey are played at Sprague, something that often causes a backup in practice schedules for youth sports teams.

Brown explained that often the high school games run late, meaning a 5:00 practice might turn into a 5:20 start time, pushing the whole schedule behind.

“I’ll be at a game and it’s hard to see 300 little kids waiting to practice,” he said.

There is a real lack of field space in town, and Brown said moving games to the high school would alleviate some of the tension caused by the overcrowding at Sprague.

The Playing Fields Task Force will meet on Friday to discuss the plan and the School Committee will vote in two weeks on whether to support the plan and designate a member for the task force.