April 17, 2021

Portsmouth Town Council
2200 East Main Road
Portsmouth, RI 02871

Dear Portsmouth Town Council,

We the undersigned are writing with grave concern about the proposal currently under consideration to pave the upper field of the Glen to create basketball courts. 

We have three major concerns with the proposal:

1. Numerous basketball courts already exist elsewhere in Portsmouth. Outdoor courts can be found at the Melville school, by the Glen Manor house, at Howland park, and at Island Park Playground. These are in addition to the even more numerous indoor basketball courts.
   
   Outdoor courts are in low use because outdoor courts are expensive to maintain with our winter season, and because outdoor courts are not usable during the primary student basketball season of January to March.
   
   It is therefore likely that paving the Glen for basketball courts would simply add yet more unused and expensive outdoor courts to what already exists in the town.
   
   
2. The grass field under proposal for paving over is in frequent, multidiscipline use by town residents:
   
   Youth Lacrosse hosts weekly practices and two annual tournaments. These are kids ranging in age from 4 years to 18 years that are benefiting from the outdoor green space available.
   
   Youth Rugby uses the field for spring practices and Glen Farm hosts the annual Beast of the East collegiate tournament. In aggregate over 2000 people that benefit every year from using that field just for rugby.
   
   Daily, dozens of Portsmouth residents of all age ranges including dog walkers, nature lovers, and residents just out for a walk use the field to enjoy the outdoors.
   
   
3. Green space in Portsmouth is decreasing and once gone, will never come back. The Glen is one of the few remaining large contiguous green spaces in Portsmouth left to be enjoyed by residents. Paving over a grass field is a one-way move. That field will never again be green.
   
   Moreover, that field is in the center of the Glen. The chain-link fencing and concrete necessary for basketball courts will be a grievous eyesore to what is otherwise an unbroken expanse of fields for residents to experience.

We are not against youth basketball, or basketball court renovation and addition in other locations in Portsmouth. There may be other very suitable locations for the proposed concrete complex. 

We simply believe that The Glen is a precious green-space shared resource of all Town residents and should be preserved for their continuing use as such.