Youth Soccer Gets Green Light For Friends Field Lighting

FOXBOROUGH -- The Planning Board on Oct. 22 closed a continued public hearing and approved a limited site plan review allowing Foxborough Youth Soccer to install and operate temporary lighting at Friends Field, located off the driveway at 111 Mechanic Street.

YOUTH LEAGUES -- DPW Director Chris Gallagher and Foxborough Youth Soccer representative Pam Morrison presented the plan to the board. The lighting units will include a latch so the league can padlock them, and organizers said the units can also be set on an automatic timer. Youth Soccer's board and coaches of older age groups will be responsible for turning the lights on and off. The board approved the permit with conditions: use limited to Monday through Friday, lights off by 8 p.m., and the lighting season not to extend beyond the week of Thanksgiving. Because the fall season is already underway, the lighting will not be usable until next fall.

Board members also raised a broader safety question about the unlit driveway serving the field, which is also used for high school football game traffic. Gallagher said Foxborough Police Lieutenant Hoffman reviewed the area and reported no crash history or pedestrian issues, including from an officer who has worked varsity football games there for years. Gallagher said adding two municipally owned streetlights to the access road, beyond the scope of the youth soccer request, would be a simple request to the town's electric contractor and National Grid, and board members voiced support for pursuing that separately for general safety and to deter vandalism.

Compiled from team and league reports, reader submissions, and local coverage.