Mansfield Planning Board Approves New England FC Soccer Fields on Gilbert Street

MANSFIELD — June 24, 2026 — Mansfield Planning Board unanimously approved a special permit for a multi-field youth soccer facility at 283 Gilbert Street. The board voted 5-0 Wednesday night to allow New England FC to build two full-size synthetic turf fields and a half-field on a 27-acre parcel in West Mansfield, with member Sharon Friedman recusing herself due to a conflict stemming from a planned 63-acre land donation to the Natural Resources Trust, on whose board she serves. Engineer Rich Riccio of Field Engineering presented a revised application featuring a stamped landscaping plan with approximately 60 eastern red cedar trees along the access driveway, a solar-powered radar speed sign package of four signs to be donated to the town for Gilbert and Otis Streets, and a stormwater system certified to handle a 100-year storm event. The 14-condition approval sets weekday operating hours at 4 to 9 p.m. and weekend hours at 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., prohibits amplified sound, requires PFAS documentation for all installed turf materials, and mandates a pre-construction meeting with abutters. Public commenter Terry Blanchard challenged the applicant's projection of $1.2 million in annual economic benefit to the town, arguing it was derived by doubling figures from NEFC's much larger Northborough training center, which serves a different market in a more commercially developed area; New England FC president Brian Mazur, joining by webinar, countered with 10 years of observable economic activity near the club's two-field Mendon facility.