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The Comprehensive Study of Athletic & Outdoor Recreation Facilities (2021-22)*, which itself was born out of the uncertainty regarding the demand for field space that arose during prior Town discussions of an athletic facilities partnership with MMHS, has documented that at baseline Lexington operates at a substantial deficit in available athletic field hours relative to user demand. At the recent Select Board Summit meeting, the anticipated closure of Center Recreation Complex south of the track for a construction lay down area during a high school building project (hatched area in photo) was described. As a result of such a closure, the Town will lose its only varsity baseball field, only varsity softball field, only football field, only junior varsity baseball field, the Fitzgerald little league field, and the Worthen Road field. In addition to the obvious and direct impact on baseball, softball, and football, the closure of these fields will also result in the loss of approximately 20% of all available rectangle athletic field hours in Town. Given the aforementioned baseline field deficit in Lexington, there is quite simply no capacity to absorb these closures, and they will have a profound negative impact on the operations of all current field users in Lexington. The potential benefits of a partnership with MMHS to lease their athletics facility are many and address not only the acute impact of the LHS building project but also some other simmering recreation issues including: • a tenable solution to the closure of the varsity baseball field; • a tenable solution to the closure of the varsity softball field; • a tenable solution to the closure of the football field; • a mitigation of the closure of approximately 20% of athletic field hours; • a potential mitigation of deficiency in opportunities for pickleball; • a potential reduction in the impact of pickleball on abutting neighbors; • a potential reduction in the impact of athletic lighting on abutting neighbors; • a potential source of revenue to replace $100K estimated Recreation EF losses during closure; • and a potential long-term mitigation of the baseline field availability deficiency in Lexington. We recognize that this MMHS partnership RFP is unexpected and unplanned for and ultimately may be untenable, but we feel it is worthy of a rapid mobilization of effort to give it all due consideration as it may represent a unique, one -of -a -kind, solution to some of the impacts of the looming athletics facility closures. 2 k https://www.lexingtonma.gov/Docu mentCenter/View/5182/Comprehensive-Study-of-Athletic-and- Outdoor-Recreation-Facilities-2021-2022---Final-Report