Politics & Government

Westwood Lodge Field to Remain Unavailable Due to Safety Inspections

It could be a number of months before the field is available to youth sports teams in Westwood.

The athletic field at Westwood Lodge will be closed through the spring youth sports season, the Westwood Board of Selectmen decided Monday night.

The decision comes after a recommendation from Westwood Police Chief William Chase to keep the field off limits due to safety evaluations at the hospital. 

"Last November, we had ," Chase said during Monday night's Selectmen's meeting. "Fortunately, nobody was injured. The homeowners weren't aware that the person had even entered their homes. This was sort of the tipping point in a number of incidents that had occurred with Westwood Lodge patients having escaped or eloped from the grounds."

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Added Chase, "As a result of that, a Weswood Lodge task force has been meeting not only with the administration of the hospital, but also with State regulators from the department of mental health. As you've pointed out, we have requested a top-to-bottom assessment of the security systems that are in place at Westwood Lodge in order to ensure not only the safety of the residents, but also of the other staff and other patients at the hospital."

The security evaluations are ongoing, Chase said, and it could be a number of months before security assessments are evaluated and completed.

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"We had hoped the assessment would have been completed by now, but due to the appointment of a new CEO at the hospital about six weeks ago, there has been some delay in that," he said. "At this juncture, my recommendation to the Board is that the field not be used for youth sports until that assessment is done and implemented. We're certainly going to get a number of recommendations, and we'd have to go through a number of those."

While the field won't be available through the spring, Chase said he's hoping that it will be back and ready to go by the fall. 

"From a fields perspective, I think Spring is our most difficult time, because you have youth baseball and softball, lacrosse and soccer," said Selectmen Patrick Ahearn. "We can do without it in the fall, but it'd be nice to have it."

Ahearn also raised the question of looking at an alternative to be able to satisfy the security needs of the area, as well as the needs of youth sports teams.

"We have had some problems down there in the past," he said. "Not so much from safety concern from the Lodge, but from parents not following parking rules and things like that. I want to say, six or seven years ago, it got to the point where the Lodge insisted we had a detailed presence whenever we used the fields."

Ahearn asked if it were possible to have a similar police presence during sporting events, but Chase said it would be difficult to be certain the Police Department would have available staff to consistently make a presence at the field during such events. 

"I think the difficulty is in ensuring that we always have an officer over there," Chase said. "And that's not always possible."

Selectmen Chair Nancy Hyde reiterated Ahearn's thoughts, but also acknowledged the importance of keeping the area safe. 

"It's not something we would prefer to do to take that field offline, but in response to the concerns that have been raised, I think we have to make sure to protect the public safety."

Chase agreed to provide updates to the Board of Selectmen in regards to how the safety assessments of the field are going, as well as when the field might be available for use again.


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