SCITUATE — The Town Council has put off its plan to convert 15 acres of the town-owned Lawton Farm conservation area into a practice area for the Pop Warner Football League.
The council acted after questions were raised about the town’s original intentions for use of the tract. About 40 acres of the farm were purchased 17 years ago from the Lawton family, who then donated the 15-acre parcel in question.
The proposal to use the land for football practice while the recreation site at Chopmist Hill is renovated stirred up a hornet’s nest of protest. About 150 people turned out for a council meeting on Thursday, most of them opponents of the practice-field idea.
David M. D’Agostino, town solicitor, said that the 15-acre parcel was not subject to the conservation restrictions that govern the rest of Lawton Farm. He said the town’s intent in acquiring the land was to use it for “active recreation,” while the balance of the property would be reserved for “passive recreation” uses.
David E. Provonsil, town building official, said that the town’s 1991 Comprehensive Plan declared that the 15 acres were intended for recreational use. “It’s still in the plan,” he said.
Robert R. Budway, council president, said that the panel had to keep in mind the needs of the schools and other recreational organizations. “We have to provide for the children,” he said. “We do not have unlimited funds. There are various conflicting needs, but this property was acquired for the express purpose of saving land for recreation.”
But speakers and a Web site, www.lawtonfarm.org, on which is posted a number of Town Hall records, challenged the history of the land as outlined by town officials.
Suzanne Soprano, one of the opponents of the football-field plan, accused the council of not doing its homework.
“There are no restrictions on that deed,” she said of the land-record file of the 15 acres at Town Hall. “I suggest you amend your vote until further study.”
Sarah Kite, of Seven Mile Road, where the Lawton Farm lies, said she was “getting angrier and angrier.” She said she had voted for all seven council members, but would reconsider that decision in the next election. She said the 15 acres needed to be preserved as a “buffer” for the balance of the property.
She predicted that bottles and other trash would accumulate, would migrate to the rest of the farm, and would eventually reach the nearby Scituate Reservoir.
Town resident Bernard Fishman said, “This is not a good site for what is proposed. I urge you to think about our future, and preserve something that [otherwise] will be damaged.”
Councilman John Winfield Jr. drew applause when he told the audience that he had been the sole dissenter when the council voted in June to convert the 15 acres for football practice.
Winfield asked D’Agostino whether there were any discrepancies between the vote the council took in June and the vote their predecessors took when the farm was taken over by the town.
“We would have to take a look at the documentation,” D’Agostino said. “It may require contacting former council members.”
Budway said the opponents had made “a number of good points.”
He added, “We don’t pretend we have all the angles, but we are doing our best. We listened, and would like time to absorb. I’m not saying we are going to change our minds, but we will give it serious consideration.”
The panel, with Councilman Wayne Salisbury absent, unanimously approved a motion to suspend its plans until D’Agostino had time to do legal research.