Board Favors New Haines Park Pact

Sign another one-year lease with the state for the Haines Memorial Park playing fields and dog park in Barrington.

The Barrington Parks and Recreation Commission will make that recommendation to the Town Council at its April meeting. The current lease expires May 24.

The commission voted unanimously Thursday night, March 28, to renew the lease.

The cost to the town is for maintenance and upkeep – approximately $33,000 a year. Barrington then has exclusive use of the fields, primarily for Little League Baseball.

Before they voted, members of the commission were urged by new member Bob Dillon, who served on that board previously, to consider the cost of the maintenance down the road.

Dillon said his preference was to spend that kind of money on town-owned property instead of state-owned fields, especially without the demand for the fields that once existed. The town also will be bringing on several new playing fields at Chianese Park in the fall. 

The commission agreed that future recommendations for a lease with the state should take into account the upkeep and maintenance costs. The need for those fields also will lessen as the new fields become available, the board agreed.

But right now, the playing fields at Haines park are needed and already assigned for the 2013 Little League season.

In addition to welcoming Dillon back to the board, the commission greeted new member Patrick Sullivan, whose wife, Deb, runs the East Bay Rowing Club. She recently renewed the club’s contract with the Recreation Department to offer rowing at Walker Farm for about 100 adults and high school students.