Deerfield Conservation Commission Approves Elementary School Playground NOI in Split Vote

DEERFIELD — December 18, 2025 — Deerfield Conservation Commission approved a disputed elementary school playground permit in a 2-1 vote after months of back-and-forth over rubber surfacing materials. The commission voted Thursday to accept Notice of Intent 142-0249, filed by the Frontier Regional School District for a new playground surface and equipment at 21 Pleasant Street, after first rescinding its November approval and closing the reopened hearing. The sticking point was the discovery, reported in a December 2 memorandum from Carlos Nieto of the Berkshire Design Group, that the 100 percent EPDM rubber subsurface the commission had required is not commercially available — the actual product, dubbed "chunky rubber" by the manufacturer, is a pre-consumer recycled blend whose precise composition the manufacturer declined to specify. Commissioner Kate Devlin voted no, saying the switch "potentially loads more toxins into the environment." Chair Peter Law and Commissioner Sean Libbey voted in favor; Commissioner Ben Byrne abstained, having missed key prior deliberations. The approval carries conditions including observation wells, an updated NOI narrative, and a formal order of conditions that must be accepted before any work begins.