Warner Field to Serve as Construction Zone for Four Years During Pollard School Rebuild

NEEDHAM — April 13, 2026 — Needham's Park and Recreation Commission learned Monday that Warner Field will be offline as a playing surface from approximately spring 2028 through spring 2032 to support the Pollard Middle School rebuilding project. Hank Half of the town's Building Design and Construction Department, construction manager Brennan Umele of Bond Building Construction, and architect Tina Stanislaski of HMFH outlined a plan to install roughly 125 geothermal wells — drilled to about 850 feet — beneath the left-center portion of the field, then use the site for contractor laydown space and teacher parking across two construction phases before restoring it. A test well is planned for the final week of April. Commissioner Cindy, attending remotely, pressed the team on three specific concerns: neighbor notification ahead of months of drilling noise, a dedicated line item in the project budget for field restoration (promised for May), and the loss of one of Needham's three regulation 90-foot baseball diamonds for the duration — a shortage the team said is already being planned for in biweekly coordination meetings with school athletic staff. The Finance Committee voted 8 to 1 Wednesday to oppose a Disc Golf Feasibility and Design warrant article, citing too many projects already in the design pipeline.