Mansfield's Conservation Commission signed off on a new artificial turf soccer field for New England FC, tied to a 63-acre land donation to the town's conservation trust.

MANSFIELD -- The Mansfield Conservation Commission, meeting July 27, approved an amended order of conditions for New England FC's project at 283 Gilbert Street, clearing the way for construction of an artificial turf field along with a regraded parking lot, a revised access road and new stormwater management structures.

TOWN -- Commission members had raised concerns at an earlier hearing about a proposed overflow parking area encroaching on a buffer zone; the applicant's engineer, Rich Ritchio of Field Engineering, told the board that area has been removed from the plans, leaving 253 parking spaces on site. The project has already received Planning Board site plan approval and a special permit. As a condition of that approval, the developer will donate approximately 63 acres of land south of the site to Mansfield's natural resource land trust, linking existing conservation land to the west with town-owned land to the north, and will make a monetary donation toward establishing trails on the donated parcel. The new parking lot will also be open to the public for accessing the land trust property. The turf itself, supplied by Sprint Turf, was described as the same material used at Mansfield High School, with infill documented as PFAS-free. The commission voted 4-1, with one member abstaining due to a seat on the land trust board, to approve the amended order and separately voted 4-1 to extend the project's original order of conditions, issued in February 2024, by three years to February 2030.

Compiled from team and league reports, reader submissions, and local coverage.