WHITMAN – While encouraging Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter to continue exploring Select Soccer’s proposal for a youth soccer field complex at the Camp Alice Carlton property, Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski agreed with a resident’s request that the process slow down while a committee is formed to explore other options.
After Town Meeting, the town had agreed to continue analysis of the Carlton property, Carter reminded the board, pointing out that meant continuing surveys of the Whitman and Rockland parcels in order to determine if the matter should be pursued further. Carter stressed that she was not presenting a proposal, only seeking board consensus to direct her efforts.
“We are still awaiting the results of the Whitman tract,” she said, noting she, Assistant Administrator Kathy Keefe and former Town Administrator Frank Lynam met with Select Soccer’s owner, reviewing the results of the Rockland land. “The survey they had done reveals areas of wetlands that would limit what could be developed in Rockland.”
Select Soccer is still interested in the property, but there is still a question as to whether it can be used for soccer fields will depend on the Rockland Conservation Commission.
It might also depend on potential opposition from a group of Whitman residents who question whether that use is in line with the intent of the Carltons when the property was bequeathed to the town.
Select plans to lay out soccer fields, but they also mentioned walking trails around the property which would be open to the public and connecting to the Whitman parcel – one of the uses opponents preferred.
Carter suggested if the soccer facility was something Whitman would consider, a long-term lease of the Rockland property to Select Soccer would permit the town to retain land ownership while providing revenue that could improve the Whitman parcel for recreational use.
Carter was seeking a consensus from the board on whether to continue exploring the option, but the four board members present were divided – Laura Howe and Shawn Kain saw merit in the opponents’ objections, while Kowalski and Vice Chair Dan Salvucci favored continued exploration of the Select Soccer proposal. Member Justin Evans was away on vacation.
Pine Street resident Eric Joubert voiced objection to the proposal as counter to the Carlton family’s intent when the land was bequeathed for recreational purposes.
“You think putting a commercial business on that land is what the family planned?” he asked.
Salvucci said soccer fields were recreational, but Joubert objected to the fields benefitting a commercial business. He compared it to baseball fields already in place in Whitman because families pay a fee for their kids to play in Little League.
“They’re not putting up buildings and they’re not restructuring the land,” Joubert retorted about the baseball fields. “How are you going to level [the Carlton property] for fields without doing major damage to the forestry area?”
He warned it would destroy woodlands and noted that the natural purpose of trees is to clean carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen – and people enjoy hiking in the area. A 1988 plan had outlined using the forest area on the property as green space, with a Girl Scout camp tying into it.
“I think the potential of the town [using] it as greenspace, as the family intended, would be a much better option for the future of the town,” Joubert said. “We could have a committee and we could work on it.”
“I 100-percent agree with you,” Howe said. “I hope, maybe, we can figure out a way to do that, because Peaceful Meadows is now, obviously moving on and I respect that, also there is a lot of other land being donated for different things, and we don’t have a lot of greenspace.”
She said wildlife is also running out of habitat because of that trend.
“I just saw land sitting there unused, and thank you for enlightening me,” Salvucci said. “I didn’t realize people were walking there.”
Kain said Joubert had changed his mind.
“You certainly won me over,” he said. “[Keeping] this either open space or conservation, greenspace, it is really what I would like to see happen with it.”
Carter said she had not yet seen specific plans, but synthetic turf fields, hard court and a small playground area and a parking area had been discussed by Select Soccer. She said the only intent at this point was to explore the issue further.
Joubert said the proposal seemed like it was being “pushed through rather fast” and did not pass the “smell test” with him. While Kowalski challenged the suggestion that the Select proposal was being rushed and agreed that a committee could be formed while the exploration of Select Soccer’s proposal continued.
“There’s been a big time out on that,” Kowalski said.
Resident Gloria Knox also argued that the Carlton’s intent was to provide an opportunity for young people to “get into nature” and enjoy the recreational opportunities provided by the properties.