New Haines Park Lease, Solar Field?

The Town Council will be asked tonight to renew the lease agreement for .

The Town Council also will hear a proposal to develop a power-generating solar field at the landfill on Upland Way to generate revenue for the town.

The councilors also will be asked to take action on two other leases: a one-year extension on the lease for Vitullo Farm off of Wampanoag Trail, and a vote at the Financial Town Meeting on a proposed extension of the lease that allows Four Town Farm to farm town land in the Nockum Hill area.

Tonight’s meeting starts at 7 pm in the Council Chamber in Town Hall.

The Haines Park lease expires on May 24. It allows the town to use the playing fields and dog park at the state-owned facility exclusively as long as the public works department maintains the fields. Cost of the maintenance last year was $33,200, according to DPW Director Alan Corvi.

Barrington had a 20-year lease with the Department of Environmental Management for the park’s playing fields until last year. It opted to go with a 1-year agreement after a tussle with DEM over the strip of land in the park that borders the rear of homes on Humphreys Road.

The Vitullo Farm item on the agenda also involves a proposal for the development of a “Barrington Community Garden” at the farm and the Devine-Vargas tract on Wampanoag Trail. The proposal is being submitted as a senior project at College of the Atlantic in Maine by Stuart Weymouth, son of Town Councilor Kate Weymouth.

Cynthia Fuller, chairwoman of the Barrington Conservation Commission, who is Weymouth’s adviser for this project, will make the presentation because he is on the Bar Harbor campus.

The Committee for Renewable Energy Barrington (CREB) is making the proposal for the solar field at the landfill, which would be developed at no cost to the town. Several developers have expressed an interest in bidding on a lease for the land for 30 years, according to CREB.

The councilors also will hear a request from the Barrington Education Foundation to hang banners on the County Road lampposts for a June 14 fundraising event. The Spotlight on the Arts event anticipates raising $36,000 for lighting and rigging improvements to the Barrington High School auditorium stage.

Other items on tonight's Town Council agenda include:

• Amending the contract with the consultant helping the town develop a park at Police Cove to allow the firm to develop a final plan.
• Monthly report from Barrington’s representatives on the the Bristol County Water Authority board.
• Public hearing on amendments to the comprehensive permit strategy in the Comprehensive Community Plan.
• Public hearing on placing a stop sign on Old Chimney Road at Kent Street.
• Awarding bids for the “safe route to school” project at Hampden Meadows School on the corner of New Meadow Road and Kent Street.
• An ordinance that would prohibit private tennis lessons on the town’s courts.
• Reguests from DPW for work on capping several town landfills and more work on the new Chianese Park playing fields on landfills #1 and #2.