Environment

Battle for Morley Field: community fights to save green space from development

Tensions rise as the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association discusses the controversial sale of Morley Field to developer JK Equities. With city officials pushing the sale, the public is fighting back against this environmental injustice and the loss of a valuable community resource.

Rhode Island News: Battle for Morley Field: community fights to save green space from development

April 12, 2023, 1:35 pm

By Steve Ahlquist

The Woodlawn Neighborhood Association held a meeting on Tuesday evening with civil engineers hired by the City of Pawtucket charged with developing designs for the two acres of Morley Field that the city found themselves unable to pave over after having agreed to sell the lot to developer JK Equities, a company with plans to turn the most of the park into a parking lot.

Early on, the woman running the meeting informed those attending that the meeting was informational only and not for reporters, going so far as to tell Pat Ford of Coalition Radio that he could not video the event.

“This is not going to be back and forth. This is not going to be contentional,” said the woman in charge. “It will be informational only. So let’s keep it orderly and civil.”

The following is based on notes taken by Uprise RI.

One thing made clear by the engineers during the presentation was that, in the eyes of the city officials who hired them, the sale of around 60% of Morley Field not protected by a deed restriction was a done deal and that the public has no recourse. The presentation included a graphic that depicted most of Morley Field already paved over.

As we will see, the 30 members of the public attending the meeting had a very different opinion about the inevitability of such a development.

Note that the graphic does not include Moshassuck Street

“We were hired by the City of Pawtucket to do some fact finding,” said Susan Mara, a Senior Project Planner for the civil engineering firm Weston & Sampson. “We met with the recreation director [John Blais]. We were hired to understand what the needs are for the neighborhood and make recommendations based on that.

“We understand from the city that this is an issue that a lot of people feel very strongly about… I think the city is very invested in understanding the needs of this community in terms of their recreational needs.”

“We get involved in designing new spaces,” said Brian Kortz, a Vice President and Office Manager at the engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill, who was there with Fuss & O’Neill landscape designer Nina Marelli. “We’ve been hired by the city to come up with some new concepts for Morley Field. There are two acres that will remain, and the idea is to re-envision what’s going to go there.

“Like Sue, said, we’re still in the information gathering stage. We want to hear from you about what you want to see there, the we’ll take those back and work with the city to develop plans.”

Marelli then unveiled the three graphics prepared by the engineers. Each had details that raised warning bells in the minds of attendees.


The remaining area of Morley Field under consideration will be cut off from all but one road and surrounded by an existing shopping center, a new and busy package distribution center with trucks entering and leaving all day, and a river. The one road that leads directly to what would be left of Morley Field, Grenville Street, is a dead end that has not been well maintained by the City and has no sidewalks. The road most people use when accessing Morley Field, Moshassuck Street, was not included on the map.

This caused some members of the public to wonder how the site could serve as a Farmer’s Market or a cultural events venue when there is such limited pedestrian access and no real parking. They noted that the intersections leading into the area are busy and confusing and not particularly safe for adults to navigate, never mind children.

The space remaining after the city paves over 60 percent of Morley Field is too small for “structured” play, said Marelli, but it might be good for throwing a ball or frisbee, what park designers call “passive recreation.”

After a short period where members of the public were allowed to examine the graphics, comments were heard. What follows is a collection of comments made by members of the public and elected officials.

The first thing we want to make sure that the City is well aware of, is that Morley is a five-acre athletic field that should be a five-acre athletic field. You have to talk about the fact that the City has not gone through the National Park Service [NPS] process, and that the environmental justice impacts of their application means that it is very unlikely to be approved.

Because the City of Pawtucket used federal funds when they first constructed Morley Field, NPS has final say on whether or not the park can be privatized and paved over. One consideration NPS looks at? Whether equivalent or superior space has been set aside to serve the functions of the original greenspace. The City has agreed to purchase a parcel of land for this purpose, but it is over a mile away, in a more upscale, whiter neighborhood that already has a large amounts of greenspace. The Woodlawn neighborhood where Morley Field sits is approximately 74% people of color with 59% of people living at or below the poverty rate. 29% of the population are children. Woodlawn is a working class neighborhood where most people live in triple deckers or multifamily units, often with no backyard.

This is an environmental justice issue and we need to think about it, very clearly, as an environmental justice issue.

“In my opinion the entirety of Morley Field needs to be preserved. What’s being done right now is blatantly illegal,” said Ward 5 Pawtucket City Councilmember Clovis Gregor. “You’re moving forward as if that area of Morley Field they want to be a parking lot is already sold. It’s not. It has to go through the NPS conversion process.

“The City has been promulgating a false narrative from the start. Allowing a private company to dig up the field and surround it with fencing is illegal,” added Councilmember Gregor.

“It is unfortunate that we, as taxpayers, are paying you to do this work, and what’s missing is what Morley Field could be: The whole five acres, what it could have been,” said State Representative Cherie Cruz  (Democrat, District 58, Pawtucket). “Morley Field has been neglected for over ten years. We want to see what that could look like. The use of the full five acres as a park should be one of the proposals presented to the community, so we have a full spectrum of choices.”

The inclusion of a cemetery as greenspace on the first graphic is deceptive because it makes it look like there is more greenspace in Ward 5 than there actually is.

If Grenville Street is going to be the only access to Morley Field, the street needs to be improved, with sidewalks,” said a man.

“Related to that,” said State Representative Jennifer Stewart (Democrat, District 59, Pawtucket), “I think there needs to be some reconsideration of the traffic signals where Grenville meets Main Street, to better ensure pedestrian safety. The distribution center being operational means there should be higher traffic there.”

One of the most fundamentally disturbing things about any of these proposals is the way they seem to be making a lot of assumptions about what’s going to happen. That entire assumption is wrong because we’re not going to give up the 60% of Morley Field that JK Equities wants to pave over.”

The other thing is that we have a proposed distribution center and a propose two-acre park, but not a proposed parking lot. That’s just there.

Another bit of deception is not showing Moshassuck Street on any of these maps. On the other side of Mosassuck is a little church that gets very busy on Sundays. I don’t know, does Moshassuck Street just disappear in these plans? That’s also the current way most people access Morley Field and the best [and only] way to access the Moshassuck River in Pawtucket.

The graphics are just bizarre propaganda for Mayor Green’s assumption that he can get away with this. And he can’t get away with this because it’s illegal.

Contention

“Can I say something?” said a woman in favor of paving Morley Field. “I used to go down to that field. My son used to play little league baseball there thirty years ago. And it had a chemical stench and nobody stayed there because of the mosquitos and lack of parking. People couldn’t walk there, they took their cars there. I’m glad that part of it is going to be paved over because you can’t do anything with the contamination that’s there. That’s a fact. I can still smell it to this day. Nobody stayed. We all left. So you need to go back and do your research.”

“You said 30 years ago?” countered another woman. “My son is 26, and Pawtucket Youth Soccer was on Morley Field.” The idea that “nobody stayed” and that there was a “chemical stench” is not true, said the woman.

“My family has played at Morley Field for 16 years,” said a third woman, who suggested that the smell might be the result of low tide at the river. “If it’s polluted we don’t even know.”

“I’m 57 years old. I grew up playing on that field,” said a man. “I played baseball there. I played football there. And I coached the Oaklawn Raiders. I don’t remember a stench. I don’t know where that comment came from. I’ve been out on that field a good part of my life and if anything, it’s in disrepair because the City has done anything to make it what it’s supposed to be.”

“There’s plenty of money available for remediation if Morley Field has contamination,” said Molly Henry from American Forests. “The city could improve Morley Field and make it a safe place to recreate if they want to invest in it.

“I am also concerned that when we limit Morley Field to that small amount of space, the urban heat index is going to be devastating,” added Henry. “Nobody’s going to want to go down to that corner lot, surrounded by concrete and pavement, where it is unbelievably hot come July or August. Taking away greenspace and putting in more pavement means that whatever you design, nobody’s going to want to go there.”

“As someone who grew up there, played baseball there, played soccer there, someone who works with youth right now and who lives in Woodlawn right now – there is no greenspace within walkable distance. So if kids want to sign up for football teams, baseball teams, there’s nothing like that in walkable distance. Many in this district do not have the opportunity to drive to [other parks like] Fairlawn or Darlington to put their kids into sports, which we know for a fact is pivotal in developing youth.”

Potential uses for the site

Countering potential spin

“I feel bad for you guys because the City has no system for allowing the community to voice all this stuff that we’re going through right now except for directing it at you.

“At the same time, I want to make sure that my presence here tonight is not counted in favor of moving forward, because I know the Administration of Mayor Donald Grebien will try to cast this as ‘there was great attendance and everyone is so excited about this park’ because that’s what the point of this meeting is, from the Administration’s point of view.

“I don’t want a press release coming down tomorrow saying 35 people attended this meeting because they’re excited about this park. I don’t want to be part of that. I oppose breaking up Morley Field.” [Applause]

Not something we can speak to

“The lot you’re looking to develop has a deed restriction for use as a youth athletic field. Changing it to a passive recreation park is in contravention to what was intended, so that’s unlawful,” added Councilmember Gregor. “Part of the reason JK Equities wants Morley Field is that they don’t want to pay to cart away the debris generated from their construction. They want to bury this toxic material under Morley Field and pave it into a parking lot. This will not only pollute the residents in this district, it’s going to pollute the Moshassuck River.”

“I don’t think that’s something we can speak to,” said Susan Mara.

“I understand that,” said Councilmember Gregor. “The notice from the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association listed that Pawtucket’s Planning Director Bianca Policastro and other members of the Administration were going to be here, but they opted out, leaving you guys as the sacrificial lambs.”

“My feelings on this is that the administration does not want real public input and just wanted to give the appearance that they sought out public input so that they can appear to be in compliance with the public input requirements,” said Councilmember Gregor to Uprise RI after the meeting. “However, once they got a wind that there was going to be real public input at this meeting, they opted not to show up.”


Arial view of Morley Field

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