NORTH ANDOVER — Playing fields for youth sports are becoming scarce in North Andover as more children sign up to play.

North Andover will lose four soccer and baseball fields on the Osgood Landing property, formerly Lucent Technologies, after the spring season.

As an alternative, an item on the May 13 Town Meeting warrant would allow the town to ease a conservation restriction on a portion of the Town Farm land off Dale Street to build two multipurpose playing fields near Gallagher Park.

"The need is ongoing," said Fields Committee Chairman Rick Gorman. "(There is an) increase in numbers and a lack of fields. The Fields Committee continues to look at other potential areas to build fields."

The warrant article would amend a 1997 Town Meeting vote that put a conservation restriction on more than 100 acres of town land, restricting development. Conservation Commission Chairman Albert Manzi Jr. said the Conservation Commission is in favor of allowing development on just the land needed for the fields and the parking areas.

"We can get more fields for the kids," Manzi said. "Recreation is a good thing."

The rest of the property would remain conservation land and mostly forested. The land was cultivated to be a Town Farm and forest, but Manzi said it hasn't been used for years. The Conservation Commission is working with the Fields Committee to make sure wetlands in the area are not disturbed.

Town Meeting last year approved a plan for the 169-acre property at Osgood Landing to put in restaurants, stores, offices and apartments. Orit Goldstein, president of Ozzy Properties, which owns the land, said recreation areas are part of the plans for the development, but the specifics on what and when they will be built hasn't been decided yet.

The Fields Committee also is tapping into other space in town that is available. A field that was unusable on Sharpners Pond Road reopened this spring for soccer and lacrosse. Gorman said the Fields Committee is also looking to other possible ideas, including converting soccer fields at Reynolds Fields on Johnson Street into baseball diamonds.

Town Meeting

When: 7 p.m., May 13

Where: North Andover High School, 430 Osgood St.