Dispute Over Adding Lights Goes to County Board
By Kristen Mack
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sudley Park, a recreational complex in Prince William County, has two baseball fields, three softball fields and six rectangular fields for soccer, football and lacrosse. But it has no lights.
That's fine with some residents of the county's Rural Crescent, who say that stadium-style lights are out of bounds. But backers of youth sports leagues and the Prince William Park Authority say the lack of illumination limits use of the fields.
The county's planning commission rejected a proposal to light the fields last month, saying it is "substantially inconsistent" with the character of the rural preserve. After hearing from the public Tuesday, the Board of County Supervisors will decide whether to overrule the commission.
Sudley Park, also known as Catharpin Recreational Park, is surrounded by open areas and woods to the north. But there are large residential lots, including the Breezy Knolls Estates subdivision to the west and Richland Estates to the east.
If the lights are installed, the closest residence will be 275 feet away. The plan calls for 53 poles that range between 30 and 80 feet tall in an area that is zoned for agricultural use.
Critics say that's not in keeping with the crescent-shaped preserve supervisors created 10 years ago to shield the last rural reaches of Prince William from encroaching suburbia. There's nothing more suburban than Little League baseball, soccer and football.
"Eighty-foot lights have no place in our county in an area that's been designated as rural," said Faye Howard, who lives across the street from Sudley and remembers when cows used to roam at what is now the entrance way to the park.
The Rural Crescent creates a transition between the county's developed eastern section and rural Fauquier County to west. It's sometimes called the Royal Crescent by those who describe it as an elitist haven for $1 million houses with vistas of farmland. Zoning laws covering the 120-square-mile Rural Crescent limit development to one house per 10 acres.
Planning Director Stephen K. Griffin said the commission thinks that recreational facilities are valuable to the community.
"We feel that there need to be parks, schools and fire stations in the Rural Crescent. Those same families that live on those 10-acre lots have kids [who] need access to parks," he said.
But on the question of lighting the fields, he said, "The planning commission felt that it was out of character with the Rural Crescent."
Sudley's baseball fields opened in September. The park operated from dawn to dusk, leaving little daylight for after-school games; youth sports leagues were relegated to playing most games on the weekend. The fields were shut down for the season in October.
Ten years ago, the Gainesville District Little League had 120 children, former league president Charles W. Husser said. It now has 1,200 and has to limit the number it can sign up at registration.
"Even with the school fields out here, we ran out of options," Husser said. "Once it's dark, game's over. The Sudley Park fields need to be fully utilized, and the only way they will be is if they are lit."
Neighbors who are used to the dark sky take issue with the park authority's 10:45 p.m. curfew for groups using lit fields in other parts of Prince William.
"They ought to be taking the little suckers home to feed them and put them in bed," Phillip Harrover, who lives a half-mile away, said, referring to parents whose kids play that late.
Youth groups are not burning the midnight oil, said Barbara Nugent, who oversees operations for the park authority. Organizations that use the fields can have games until nearly 11 p.m., she said, but many do not.
Lit fields planted with synthetic turf provide 62 percent more playing time, Nugent said. Sudley Park's fields add 9 percent to the county's inventory of 120 fields.
"It's about balancing the needs and wants of the community and extending the recreational day," Nugent said. "I understand what the county leaders wanted for that land in the Rural Crescent. But development is not going to stop. As the community continues to grow, I want to make sure children have good, safe, healthy places to play."
The Board of Supervisors delayed a vote last week, hoping the two sides could reach agreement about the type of lights that would be installed and how late they would stay on each night.
"This isn't going to be about who can bring out the most people," Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large) said of the hearing.
"This is about the community working this out," he said. "This is about neighbors talking to sports leagues and making sure the lights are not too disruptive."
Stewart said a majority of the board is likely to support a compromise.
"One way or another, there will be lights on the ballfield," he said.
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