The Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted 10-6 to approve the regional high school athletic field project at a dramatic meeting Thursday night, capping a long-running and often acrimonious debate over synthetic turf fields.
The board, which had pondered issuing a moratorium on artificial playing surfaces for nearly two years, said its decision was done to protect water quality from harmful and long-lasting chemicals known as PFAS.
West Tisbury voters overwhelmingly stated their preference for natural grass for the regional high school athletic fields in a pair of votes at the annual town election Thursday.
West Tisbury voters will still get a chance to weigh in on whether to install artificial turf at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High school, after the town select board agreed to keep a non-binding ballot question on this year’s election ballot.
The regional high school committee Monday voted to withdraw its applications for the project with the Martha's Vineyard Commission and give its building committee a blank slate as officials consider a overhaul for the entire campus.
The West Tisbury select board voted to put a non-binding referendum question about the playing field surface at the regional high school on the ballot for the town’s spring election.
The planning board’s withdrawal now lifts one of the major obstacles for the high school, which has been talking about overhauling its athletic facilities since 2016.
