‘We need to protect that field’: Neighbors still fighting to save Morley Field in Pawtucket
PAWTUCKET, R.I. – November 26, 2024 – Why would the city want to pave over much of a public park in a neighborhood known to lack green space?
It’s a question people in Woodlawn have been asking for the past couple of years since Pawtucket leaders started moving forward with a plan to turn most of Morley Field into a parking lot for a yet-to-be-built warehouse complex.
At a rally in front of City Hall on Sunday, opponents of the plan again questioned why the administration is still trying to secure permission for the controversial project despite objections from community members, elected officials that represent Woodlawn and advocacy groups.
“We are dying for resources like athletic fields and green space,” state Rep. Cherie Cruz told the approximately 75 people who’d gathered in protest. “We need to protect that field.”
At a rally on Sunday, Pawtucket City Councilman Clovis Gregor and state Rep. Jennifer Stewart speak out against a plan to convert Morley Field into a parking lot.
What is happening with Morley Field?
The 5.2-acre field, which includes a baseball diamond and open space along the Moshassuck River, is located in a historically industrialized corridor near Interstate 95 that the state designates as an environmental justice community – an area that has disproportionately been impacted by pollution and other public health risks.
The field, which dates to the mid-1970s, was fenced off to the public in 2022 not long after the city proposed selling more than half the land to J.K. Equities, a New York real estate developer that has plans to build a warehouse complex at the site of the former Microfibres Inc. factory next door that it says would create 450 jobs.
Because Morley Field was created using money from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, the sale can’t go through without permission from the National Park Service. The state Department of Environmental Management also has a say because it is the state agency that administers the fund in Rhode Island.
The DEM has so far withheld a recommendation on the project. In June, when the agency granted support for two other parks conversion projects, it said it needed more guidance from the park service on environmental justice concerns before releasing an opinion on the Morley Field project.
The DEM has since heard back from the park service and is working with the city to respond to the new guidance, according to Kim Keough, a spokeswoman for the state agency.
Grace Voll, a spokeswoman for the city, said Pawtucket has worked to mitigate the impacts on the surrounding low-income and minority neighborhoods.
“The city has understood and respected the environmental justice requirements, despite there being no formal process, making it difficult to do so,” she said.
Critics say field should never have been targeted for development
To compensate for the loss of the 3.1-acre portion of Morley Field, Pawtucket has bought 14 acres of green space about a mile away on Pleasant Street that it will open as a public park, and also plans to build a dog park on Esten Avenue, Voll said.
She said the city will also revitalize the remaining 2-acre portion of Morley Field by improving the connection to the Moshassuck, creating a community event space, putting in a walking trail, and planting a pollinator garden.
“It is important to remember that every step of the way, the city has asked for the public’s input in this process and has taken in that feedback,” Voll said.
But opponents say the plan to take over part of Morley Field should have never been considered in the first place.
“The truth is, if Morley Field were in a wealthy neighborhood nobody would dare pave it over for a parking lot,” Richard Stang, staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, said at Sunday’s rally.
Among the other speakers at the rally were Pawtucket City Councilman Clovis Gregor and state Rep. Jennifer Stewart, as well as representatives of Save The Bay and the Black Lives Matter Rhode Island Political Action Committee…Click here to read the full article.