Bright lights, noise, trespassing and lack of accountability from the high school were chief among concerns voiced by neighbors of the regional high school at an open forum on the new track project. The high school facilities committee and administration invited the residents of the abutting Deer Run neighborhood to the forum to share their input.

“We’re here to listen, answer questions as best we can, but mostly gather information so as we go forward and develop and design this project, we have everyone’s concerns in mind,” superintendent of schools Dr. Matthew D’Andrea said.

The school committee has selected Huntress Associates as the designer for the project. Community debate over whether the infield of the track should be an artificial turf field or a grass field has stalled the project for years, but administrators at the meeting said the turf versus grass debate was off the table for the time being. They wanted to hear about other concerns from abutters, and there was no shortage of other concerns, many of which had to do both with the track and the Sharks baseball stadium.

“We were made promises many years ago for noise abatement, for trees, for fence, for no lights...music away from Deer Run,” said Sandy Mott. “Late at night or early in the morning, there are reasons why you need your peace and quiet too.”

Ms. Mott said she didn’t see why the track could not be relocated to run around the football field, as is the case with many schools off-Island.

Joe Sullivan, a representative from project manager Daedelus Projects, Inc., said heavy usage made putting the track around the football field a less attractive option. He added that many schools arrange their facilities that way because they lack the space available at the regional high school campus.

“The difficulty of doing that is sometimes having all those activities around one field, that field gets decimated a lot quicker,” he said. He said an assessment of the campus has shown that the fields are used more than 2,600 times per year.

Many neighbors who have lived in the neighborhood for decades echoed Ms. Mott’s concerns, saying the high school failed to make good on commitments to them when the track was built.

Jamie McNeely said he has lived in the neighborhood since 1995. “When the track first went in it was like we had no say,” he said. “And over the years I’ve accepted it. It would have been nice if the school had done what they said they were going to do when that track was built.”

Mr. McNeely emphasized that the possibility of more light pollution from the new track was a top concern.

David Wallis cautioned the designers to consider just how much use the track gets from the Island community, and to consider the shortage of natural light during winter.

“The fourth of this month, daylight savings happens and you turn your headlights on at 4 o’clock,” he said. “[Then] there is no opportunity for those athletic fields except the football field, which has restrictions because it’s a natural surface... I think that wherever this track ends up, it’s got to be able to handle events, not just practice, but all sorts of things.”

Rebekah Thomson of the Field Fund, a group dedicated to promoting and maintaining grass fields around the Island, is not an abutter, but asked about possible contamination in the soil beneath the track.

“It was brought to our attention that there may be things buried in the infield,” she said.

Mr. Sullivan said soil testing would be done by boring down into the earth to determine whether that was the case.

As they made their frustrations clear, many neighbors added that they know how important the school is on the Island. Many said their own children had gone there.

“We love the school, we care about the kids. We knew when we moved here the school was there,” Ms. Mott said. “We want kids to have good facilities... It’s just some of the quality of life issues.”

There will be another public forum on Nov. 15.