'Ayes' For Turf Field, Rail Trail at Tewksbury Town Meeting

Tewksbury residents voted 189-39 in favor of funding a $950,000 artificial turf field at Tewksbury Memorial High School Wednesday night at Special Town Meeting, at the same time avoiding drawing any funding for the project from the town's stabilization fund.

The project, Article 3 on the warrant, was amended following a proposal from Community Preservation Committee Chairwoman Nancy Reed to increase Community Preservation funding for the project from $450,000 to $600,000. 

Community Preservation funding can be used to fund the project up unto the acquisition of the artificial turf, according to Reed.

Coupled with a , $100,000 in construction offsets and $50,000 raised by Friends of the Tewksbury Athletic Complex, the town will successfully avoid having to dip into the stabilization fund to finance the project, according to Town Manager Richard Montuori.

The project costs, according to Montuori, will include:

• $3 per square foot for the artificial turf totalling $360,000
• Installation of the turf totalling $144,000
• Design and engineering totalling $60,000
• Purchase of equipment to maintain the field totalling $35,000
• Drainage and subsurface totalling $401,000

The $50,000 on top of the $950,000 approved at Special Town Meeting will cover contingency costs, according to Montuori.

Approval of Article 3 as amended allowed Montuori to withdraw Article 4, which would have drawn $400,000 from the town's stablization fund for the turf. 

School Committee Chairman Brian Dick spoke up in favor of the project, saying the field would be an asset for the entire Tewksbury community. 

"It will be used by over 700 athletes each year," Dick said. "It's good for the town, our community and our students. Let's make sure we use this grant money that we've been awarded now."

The field will be used by the TMHS lacrosse, soccer and field hockey teams as well as the TMHS Marching Band and community youth sports groups, Dick told Tewksbury Patch in an interview.

The turf field surface is part of what had been an ambitious stadium project voted down by residents last year. The field being constructed, which also includes a track, will not have lights and will have seating for only 500, considerably less than Doucette Field.

Following Special Town Meeting and returning to Annual Town Meeting, voters approved $35,000 in Community Preservation funding for a bicycle and walking trail feasibility study and development plan for the town's abandoned rail lines and other preserved open space. 

Chairman of the Tewksbury Rail Trails citizen's group Pete Miller said the abandoned rail lines are current an abandoned resource waiting to be tapped into.

"Roughly seven miles of railroad beds have lain abandoned for close to 90 years-- longer than they were in use, representing an untapped resource in our community for walking, hiking, bicycling and more," Miller said. 

The funding will be used to hire a consultant who will develop the study and plan for the trails. 

"Passage of this article will allow the town to hire a professional consultant to do all of the necessary research and investigation to produce a feasibility study for possible trail improvements," Miller said. 

Stick with Tewksbury Patch for a full breakdown of Special Town Meeting and Annual Town Meeting.