Auburn High School's turf field is unsafe to use past this fall, and town officials are moving to fund an emergency replacement.

AUBURN --

HIGH SCHOOL Auburn High School's all-purpose turf field, installed in 2006 and never resurfaced, is nearing the end of its usable life, School Business Manager Jennifer Stanek told a joint Select Board, Finance Committee and School Committee meeting Monday. The DPW vacuums the field's rubber pellets annually, but officials said the turf's fibers have degraded to the point of being "a safety concern," and the district will not be able to utilize the field "after probably this fall season."

The School Committee is asking this fall's special town meeting to appropriate $300,000 from stabilization and free cash toward the field's replacement, to be financed and paid in fiscal year 2027, plus repurpose $150,000 from Bryn Mawr Building Rehab funds, $60,000 from Auburn High School Building Rehab funds and $40,000 earmarked for scoreboards. Officials estimated the full replacement cost at roughly $700,000, on top of $150,000 already set aside in the town's capital improvement plan.

TOWN Select Board members used the same meeting to push for a broader look at the condition of all of Auburn's recreational fields, not just the high school's. One member said maintenance responsibility is currently split between the town's DPW and the school department with no shared tracking or management system, and that the town's parks department lacks the expertise to maintain turf fields. Town Manager Dori Vecchio said she would work with the school department to develop cost estimates for maintaining the district's other fields as part of a longer-term capital plan. A Finance Committee member noted that youth soccer, football, lacrosse and baseball programs are heavy users of the town's fields, and suggested that underused grass fields may be contributing to the turf field wearing out faster than it should.

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