By Seth Daniel
Supt. Fred Foresteire said this week that he supports building a new Everett Stadium at Seven Acre Park, this coming after seeing the initial plans and consulting with others in the Schools and City departments.
The proposal to create a new Everett Stadium and sports complex on the old GE Site at Seven Acre Park – now being constructed by Wynn Boston Harbor – was first proposed by Mayor Carlo DeMaria in his Inaugural Address on Jan. 2.
“I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “I think at the current facility we find that the fields are satisfactory, but the clubhouse is not. It’s not sufficient for the size of our program now. I think after seeing the new designs, it will be a bigger facility and will have a regulation track and tennis courts and practice fields. Having practice fields and extra space will mean a game can be going on while another team is practicing. So we could have a soccer game going on while the football team is practicing. To me, it works.”
The change is a far-reaching proposal as the Everett Stadium is steeped in history as the most celebrated and successful, high school football program in the state. The field there has hosted many a state championship team and has a history going back generations.
To make a move from such hallowed home turf isn’t an easy decision.
But now it seems to be necessary.
Mayor DeMaria has cited the numerous complaints he gets from neighbors in the area of the Stadium who have to put up with parking issues and traffic on game days – particularly during the playoffs and homecoming. Having a Stadium in the middle of a residential community doesn’t really gel with today’s standards of athletic facilities.
Foresteire said he agreed with that as well, adding that any new facility at Seven Acre Park would also help the program expand its track and tennis teams. Right now, because of lack of facilities, those teams cannot host any home meets.
“We don’t have home meets in track and tennis now in Everett because we don’t have the facilities to do that,” he said. “They now have to play all their events on the road. That will be important to have that as well.”
One of the major discussions, though, if the plan does go through is what will happen with the land that now houses the Stadium. Foresteire said any discussions about that are premature now, but he did say with the way the population is growing in Everett, that site could be considered for a school.
“If we keep growing at the rate we are and given all the new construction there’s every indication it will continue…that’s going to be an issue,” he said. “That Stadium was a consideration (for a school) because the City owns that land. I don’t know if there are any other plans for that Stadium now. That is going to be the issue.”