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Exeter Youth Lacrosse seeks board permission to install irrigation at Linden Street fields using grant and fundraising
Summary
Exeter Youth Lacrosse asked the board to allow use of a $10,000 Bill Belichick Foundation grant plus $23,076 raised locally to install irrigation on Linden Street fields; the group provided quotes ($10,000–$15,000), identified a 500-foot well as a water source, and pledged to coordinate schedules to avoid displacing Seahawk football.
Doreen Caswell, president of Exeter Youth Lacrosse, addressed the board seeking permission to use private funds and a $10,000 Bill Belichick Foundation grant, together with $23,076 raised locally, to install an irrigation system on the Linden Street fields near Seacoast School of Technology. Caswell said the group has secured several quotes; the preferred quote from Brian O'Neil at Going Green Landscape was in the range of $10,000–$15,000 to irrigate the front section of the field, about 415 by 320 feet. She said the project would leave at least $8,000 in the group's account for loam and seed, and that additional fundraising would be possible if needed.
Caswell told the board the irrigation would tap into an existing well and control panel installed adjacent to the SST garages. She said the well (installed years earlier) is a 500-foot well capable of 60 gallons per minute and that current use is well under capacity; the group would tie into an existing control panel and run piping to the lacrosse/football area, avoiding fenced baseball turf. Caswell emphasized the project is intended to improve safety and playing conditions and said Exeter Youth Lacrosse would work around Seahawk football schedules and other field users.
Board members asked pragmatic questions about water ownership, ongoing maintenance responsibility, equitable access if the fields become more usable, and whether accepting private funds or donations raised any governance questions. Administrators said no money is changing hands with the district for the irrigation hardware itself and suggested inviting Rusty (the operations/maintenance contact) to a future meeting to answer technical and maintenance questions. The board expressed support in principle and asked the group to return in October with Rusty present to address details, logistics and any long-term maintenance agreements.
No formal vote to authorize installation or accept funds was taken at this meeting; the board requested a follow-up presentation with school operations staff present.
