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Overgrown lot in Riverside may be converted to soccer field

At its Monday meeting, members of the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association briefly discussed a proposal to temporarily convert an overgrown lot behind Marta’s Deli on Riverleigh Avenue into a soccer field. FRNCA president Ron Fisher said Southampton Town recently spent $22,000 to clean up the site and hoped to see it used for athletics.

“It’s an area that has consistently been abused and overgrown and there’s some nasty stuff that goes on back there,” he said.

The town’s long-term plan is to sell the property to Renaissance Downtowns, which would build housing at the site as part of the Riverside Rediscovered project.

Creating a soccer field on the lot “would bring more of the right kind of traffic to the area,” Mr. Fisher said. Under the proposal, the town would pay to convert the site into a field and to maintain it. Existing soccer leagues would have access to it, he added.

Southampton Town officials, who are seeking feedback on the proposal, received no opposition during Monday’s FRNCA meeting. The issue of whether zoning allows for such a use, however, was discussed without resolution.

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Photo credit: Krysten Massa