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Residents tell Burrillville council they worry artificial turf could threaten aquifer, cite PFAS concerns
Summary
During public comment at the April 9 meeting residents urged the council to treat a proposed artificial turf project as major land development, raised concerns about PFAS exposure and said town officials may not have known the site lay within an aquifer overlay zone until 2024.
Several residents raised concerns during public comment at the Burrillville Town Council's April 9 meeting about a proposed artificial-turf project, saying the site may lie within an aquifer overlay zone and that potential PFAS contamination and other engineering issues merit fuller review.
Irene Watson, who identified herself as a Jackson Schoolhouse Grove resident, said she purchased court transcripts and read portions of testimony in active litigation. She quoted a line she said came from testimony in which the town manager acknowledged attending roughly 40 meetings on the water source since 2015 and said he had not known the project site was in an aquifer overlay zone until 2024.
"If people want to believe that the $250,000 that has been put in to pay for this lawsuit, and we are to believe that the town council and our town manager knows and has done their due diligence on this, I just want you to realize that he admits that there were 40 meetings and that he didn't know that there was an aquifer underneath the turf until 2024," Watson said.
Another commenter (address given as 80 Spring Street) urged the council to treat the proposal as major land development and to refer it to the town's zoning and planning process, saying a peer review had identified about 30 problems that would not have been found absent a zoning review.
Speakers in public comment repeatedly framed their concerns around potential groundwater impacts, historical examples of construction-related contamination in town, and the role of the zoning and planning review process in identifying and mitigating risks. Watson and the other residents did not propose a specific policy motion; their remarks occurred during the public comment portion of the meeting and no council vote was taken on the turf topic during the session.
The transcript available to the council also references a $250,000 figure tied to litigation and a claim that peer review identified multiple issues with project materials; the council did not take public action on the turf item at the April 9 meeting. The town manager and council members noted other agenda items that evening and said officials will continue to process projects according to applicable procedures.
The comments illustrate that at least some members of the public expect a zoning and planning review before the project advances and that they remain concerned about PFAS exposure and groundwater impacts. The council did not respond in detail to the technical claims during that public comment period, and the transcript does not show staff producing immediate new analysis on the record.
