Board Divided Over Medeiros Farm Project

The Seekonk Select Board remains divided over the Medeiros Farm project.

In a 3 to 2 vote at the September 3 meeting, the board approved the bid award for OPM (Office of the Project Manager) services to KCM Group. Chair Michelle Hines, Michael Healy, and Chris Zorra voted yes, with Gary Sagar and Pam Pozzi in opposition.

Sagar had urged the board to “pause” work on the project.

“There’s a lot of turmoil within the neighborhood and they ultimately have a big say in this. It’s in the town’s best interest because I see us walking into another large lawsuit. This whole project needs a special permit from the zoning board,” Sagar said.

Sagar proposed holding a public hearing so residents and members of the Medeiros Farm Committee could air their opinions.

A vote on use of the property will be held at a future town meeting.

The Town acquired the property for $2 million. At the May 2023 Town Meeting, the Town voted to appropriate $150,000 from the Community Preservation Fund Undesignated Reserve to hire and direct a consultant to develop a master plan for the Medeiros Farm project at Elm Street and Lincoln Street. A seven member committee was appointed to oversee the project.

“This is a town decision,” Hines said. “We are five residents of the town. Our vote will count just as much as everybody else’s does.”

Resident Ken Kazarian was concerned about the property being converted into multiple soccer fields.

“We’re about to spend 12 million dollars and have about 150,000 dollars a year on maintenance costs on false surveys,” Kazarian said. “I’m saying ‘calm it down.’ You’re in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Do it next to a school.”

Town Administrator Shawn Cadime told Kazarian the town’s Open Space and Recreation Plan “shows the need for more athletic fields.”

Cadime explained the first phase of the project involved a conceptual drawing submitted to the May 2025 Town Meeting for their approval.

“We have $825,000 which has been appropriated for OPM and designer services,” Cadime added. “We’re in that process. Town Meeting will have another opportunity to move forward with the project.”

“It does not belong there,” said Doreen Taylor, a former chair of the Select Board. “If this is presented as is, without any change to it, it doesn’t fit. We do not need eight athletic fields shoved into a residential neighborhood like that. Totally out of place. Downsize it. It will cost us less.”

Taylor also criticized the board for reappointing Justin Sullivan to the Medeiros Farm Committee. Sullivan had served as the board’s representative on the committee.

Taylor said the board “overstepped its’ authority” by allowing Sullivan to remain on the committee even though he is no longer a member of the board. Pam Pozzi volunteered to serve as the new board liaison but did not secure enough votes.

Hines defended the board’s decision to keep Sullivan, noting he had been on the committee since its inception.

“We did satisfy the (warrant) article the way it was written,” Hines noted. ‘The majority of (the board) did not want to take (Sullivan) off and appoint somebody brand new.”