Judge to town: Cease & desist installation of turf field at Burrillville High School

By
 Sandy Hall
 -
0
554

BURRILLVILLE – Just as a new synthetic turf field was set to be installed on the grounds of Burrillville High School, the town has been ordered to halt the project, with Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Lanphear granting one resident’s request for a temporary restraining order.

Roberta Lacey was granted a restraining order on the project over objection of the defendants, which include the town itself; members of the town council, planning and zoning boards; Town Manager Michael Wood, Finance Director Leslie McGovern; and Zoning Official Steven Detonnancourt.

“Defendants shall cease and desist on all installation activity such that defendants are prevented from installing the artificial turf field until such time as this matter has been scheduled for hearing on preliminary injunction,” notes the order, issued on Friday, Oct. 4.

The early decision, delivered to Solicitor William Dimitri acting on behalf of the defendants, reportedly comes just after town officials gave the court a 72-hour notice that installation was set to begin on the field on Monday, Oct. 7, with the synthetic surface to be provided by contractor Field Turf. A group of town residents, led by Plaintiff Lacey, has raised concerns in recent months about the potential presence of PFAS or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as “forever chemicals,” in the field material.

Represented by Attorneys Michelle Hawes and Marisa Desautel of Desautel Browning Law, Lacey has charged that the field has potential to contaminate the town water supply, noting that the location is over an aquifer that supplies much of Burrillville’s drinking water.

Town officials, meanwhile, have argued that the field would not cause potential harm and that it contains only a trace amount of PFAS, pointing to the results of recent testing and a conclusion by firm TRC Consulting stating that, “the artificial turf does not represent a human health risk to those using the artificial turf ballfields and it does not pose a risk to the environment, the groundwater, the surface water, and the aquifer.”

Opponents of the project, meanwhile, have promoted a website documenting their concerns, with information related to synthetic fields here.

The case is one of two filed by Lacey’s attorneys, with separate but related litigation on the matter initially set to be heard on Thursday, Oct. 10. It was unclear as of this week if both cases would still move forward.

According to Lanphear’s early decision, the temporary restraining order will expire after a hearing on the preliminary injunction, which has been scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 9:30 a.m.

SOURCE: https://www.nrinow.news/2024/10/05/judge-to-town-cease-desist-installation-of-turf-field-at-burrillville-high-school/