West Windsor-Plainsboro student athletes will soon get more time to play sports after dark. After a marathon West Windsor Planning Board meeting that began on Wednesday, October 12, and ended at 2:30 in the morning on Thursday, October 13, the planners unanimously approved the application to install stadium lighting at High School South.
Four 70-foot high steel light poles — double the height permitted under current township code — will be installed, two on each side of the new turf field, which Athletic Director Martin J. Flynn said will bring the high school “a state of the art facility.”
The approval follows a prolonged discussion of the lights by the WW-P Board of Education and the High School South Booster Club, which is responsible for funding the installation. The planning board is expected to approve a resolution making its decision final at the next meeting. Following that objectors have 45 days to appeal the decision. Ultimately the installation schedule will be determined by the Booster Club.
In the meantime the board expects to go through a similar process in Plainsboro to gain planning board approval for High School North.
The school board and the booster club signed a memorandum of understanding in December, 2009, stipulating that the lights would be considered a donation to the school district, purchased with money raised from the booster club, and their operation and maintenance expenses would also be paid for by the booster club. Meanwhile the board would govern all use of the lights. Standards set forth in the application applied to after-school practices, scrimmages, and games up until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 10:30 p.m. on Friday nights, to allow specifically for Friday night football games.
While no weekend sports would be included in usage of the lights, the Planning Board required a condition that on weekends the lights would never be used.
Despite the restrictions some nearby residents argued against the lights, raising issues of increased crowds and parking, safety concerns for children, noise and disturbances to households on nearby streets, especially on Canoe Brook Drive. The applicants’ team reminded the Planning Board of the 70-foot high light poles for ball fields at Community Park, Duck Pond Park, and various Little League fields that have a mandated height of 60 feet or more.
Attorney James McCann of the Jersey City firm of Connell Foley represented the Board of Education and the Booster Club. Among his witnesses was Richard G. Zoeller, a lighting expert who works for Musco, a firm that designs and manufactures sports lighting systems. Zoeller testified that no new transformers would be installed; the lights would feed off of existing power lines. Zoeller said that the application would provide for optimal lighting for sports played on the turf field but not include illumination of the track surrounding it.
There will be 11 lighting fixtures at the top of each pole and the height of 70 feet would create an opposite effect from what the general public would imagine. In stadium settings, the higher the light fixture is the better focused the beam angle of the light would be, and if a light pole is higher this would lower the “spillage,” or superfluous, useless light that is produced.
To further justify the height of 70 feet, Zoeller referred to a parking lot’s lighting being adequate at 25 feet. But a football that is punted or even soccer balls can go much higher and be missed on the way down if the lighting is too low.
Zoeller later presented a property line illumination summary using a measurement of 0.06 foot candles — what he called the equivalent of “moonlight or less” to demonstrate the new lighting’s impact on the property line bordering Clarksville Road and Princeton-Hightstown Road. Zoeller said there would be “no measurable light whatsoever” visible from Penn Lyle Road, leaving the main concern the trees and shrubs serving as the only buffer from the view of the lights for homes on Canoe Brook Drive.
McCann’s witnesses said that there will be no “sky-glow effect,” meaning light protruding up from the poles and into the sky above, but there will be a small amount of light projecting outwards from the back of the fixtures.
The lights will be controlled wirelessly and can be set or scheduled from a website or by calling a central control center. If less light is needed two of the lights can be turned off at a time, but only lights on opposite sides of each other.
Flynn testified that the new lights would achieve the district’s goal of placing more of West Windsor’s school athletes on the new turf field, which offers much better safety and playability than the grass fields on the South campus. “We’d be expanding and allowing for two games per day, with one at 3:30 followed by another at 5:30, for example, instead of having them at the same time and earlier,” he said.
Flynn said that programs with three levels — freshman, junior varsity, and varsity — would all benefit from the new lights. These include boys and girls soccer, boys and girls lacrosse, field hockey, and football. He said cross country, which practices on the track, will also benefit since the runners would have more time because other sports currently wait until track is finished to practice. In addition, Flynn said the marching band can benefit when it prepares for outdoor performances at football games.
When the lawyer for the opponents, Robert D. Simon of Herold Law in Warren, questioned Flynn as to whether people attending varsity football games park off-site, he replied that to the best of his knowledge it does not occur. As he finished that statement a handful of shouts came from the back of the room.
“Yes! They do it a lot,” one group shouted.
The testimony from the school board’s experts — coupled with extensive cross examination by Simon, representing the opponents — delayed the beginning of public comments until 1:30 a.m.
Simon said that 52 residential lots were within 200 feet of the school property, and the visual and auditory impact was discussed at length. Sergey Shulgin of 8 Canoe Brook Drive said that from inside his house during daytime hours he can hear games being played at High School South.
“For me it’s okay during the day but you’re talking about Friday nights, potentially until 10 or 10:30 p.m., and I have a problem with that,” he said.
Shulgin said his wife has a demanding job and “if she does not get a good night’s rest, particularly on Friday evenings, it could be potentially dangerous, not only for her but to somebody else.” Shulgin also said he has a two-year-old daughter who goes to bed before 8 p.m., and she would be awakened by the noise from nighttime sports.
Suifen Lyn and Xiaown You of 6 Radford Court used to live at 13 Canoe Brook Drive. They both spoke against the lights with the noise and safety in the surrounding areas as their main concerns. Quoting the law of private nuisance, Lyn said it is illegal for odor, noise, or lights to prevent people from spending time in their backyard. Lyn said that when she lived on Canoe Brook Drive she used to have to shut the windows and doors to keep the noise from sports games out as her children were frightened by it.
“People have the basic right to have a peaceful time in the evening in their own homes. This would violate our rights,” she said. Lyn showed up to the meeting with several friends and three small children, but as the evening carried over into early Thursday most of her group went home. She presented the Planning board with letters from people who were going to speak during public comments, and board Chairman Marvin Gardner said the documents could be submitted for the record.
Jane Lu of 1323 Old Trenton Road submitted a statement echoed by a couple of residents opposed to evening sports games. Lu’s letter stated that “having sports activities late affects students’ study quality as they should be focused on studies in the evening. Games also disturb the school’s neighbors, create a big nuisance to the neighborhood, and introduce more traffic, which is unsafe for families.”
The opponents’ attorney argued that the applicants did not do a safety analysis for pedestrian and vehicle traffic or a visual impact analysis, and no environmental impact statement was submitted.
The lawyer also questioned Zoeller about the prospect of temporary lighting being brought in when an event called for it, instead of the plan to install the new lights. Zoeller replied that temporary lighting is only usually 25 to 30 feet high, which would be inadequate for optimizing the safety of the playing field. Zoeller also said that temporary lights would not be safe in the event of a force of nature such as Hurricane Irene.
“To stand up against 100-mph winds any lighting would need to be secured with an 8,000-pound concrete base,” he said.
But not all residents were opposed to the lights. Tom O’Connor of 50 Louis Street in Princeton Junction said the activity generated by High School South and its football field are one of the reasons he bought his house in 2005.
“I went over to a game on a Saturday and I thought how cool it was to have an opportunity to be part of the community. I think the lights are a great idea and they would enhance the quality of life. If you live in the center of a community the activities and noise they create are things you accept, embrace and love. If you don’t like it you can move somewhere where there’s no people,” he said.
Bob Bruno of 5 Rowland Court in Plainsboro stayed late to voice his support for the project because it would enhance other sports, not just football. “I have a daughter who plays field hockey, and if you’ve ever seen a field hockey or lacrosse game trying to play on grass versus the turf, it’s a very different game and it’s harder to advance the ball on grass,” he said.
Bruno also felt the lights would bring more fairness to school sports, stating that many kids at the lower levels, such as junior varsity teams, have had their games shortened because there wasn’t enough light for them to continue playing.
“We’re not talking about everything at 10 o’clock. At six and seven it’s dark out and those games get shortened. The JV kids get cheated; they work just as hard and they can’t finish their games the way a varsity squad can,” Bruno said.
Hemant Marathe, board of education president, attended the hearing along with fellow board member Bob Johnson, South principal Roseann Bonino, assistant superintendent David Aderhold, and superintendent Victoria Kniewel. Marathe later issued a statement:
“The board understands concerns of neighbors. The board deliberated on the issue for almost two years. We believe overall the project is positive for the township and therefore the board accepted the gift while putting in safeguards for the neighbors. We will continually review the usage to ensure the negative effects are mitigated. We want to thank the booster club for its support and all the legwork to complete the project.”
