Supervisors Back Ballfield Lights

A battle over ballpark lighting in Prince William's Rural Crescent came to a close Tuesday when the Board of County Supervisors sided with the county Park Authority, allowing the organization to move forward with illuminating the fields.

Supervisors voted unanimously to overturn the county Planning Commission's October rejection of the Prince William County Park Authority's proposal to add lights at Sudley Park, a recreational complex with two baseball fields, three softball fields and six other fields for soccer, football and lacrosse. Commissioners had denied the proposal because they said the lighting plan is "substantially inconsistent" with the character of the rural preserve.

"We are very challenged as to how we can get either more ballfields or extend the day," Gainesville supervisor and board Vice Chairman John T. Stirrup Jr. (R) said of the decision to override the Planning Commission. "I think it is inappropriate for us to deny recreation amenities to people."

Also known as Catharpin Recreational Park, the land lies in Gainesville and is surrounded by open area and woods to the north and residential lots to the west and east. Supporters say the lights are needed to extend the use of the playing fields. Residents near the park, however, do not want lights interfering with the rural atmosphere of the crescent-shaped preserve supervisors created 10 years ago to shield the last rural part of the county from encroaching suburbia.

"When my husband and I moved here, we chose the area because it was in the Rural Crescent and was not supposed to be developed," said Marian Hamamo, who lives next to the park and was one of three people to speak against the lights during Tuesday's meeting. "People who live in the Rural Crescent want dark skies, suburban air. . . . What right do you have to destroy our quality of life?"

The park's baseball fields opened in September and are needed to meet the growing number of little league players. Ten years ago, the Gainesville District Little League had 120 children. Today, it has almost 1,200 and has had to turn people away because there are not enough fields, former league president Charles W. Hussler said.

"We are sorely in need of park space, and we are not going to be able to buy more," supervisor W.S. Covington III (R-Brentsville) said. "If we are able to extend the use of the field, it will be beneficial to children."

Stirrup held a meeting with neighbors, the Park Authority and little league representatives last week to further address the issue. Neighbors were mostly concerned with the time the lights were set to go off -- close to 11 p.m., according to the Park Authority's proposal -- the increased traffic and whether a buffer could be placed between the park and homes.

Although supervisors cannot mandate how the Park Authority runs the lights, they added language to the resolution passed Tuesday asking the authority to turn the lights off by 9:30 p.m. and to plant trees between the lights and homes.

"You can't require the Park Authority to do anything because they are a separate body," county attorney Ross Horton said. "You can put something in there asking they work with the board, but you can't force them to change their [lighting] policy."

The plan is to install 53 poles 30 to 80 feet tall in an area zoned for agricultural use. The nearest home will be 275 feet, just less than the length of a football field, away.

"No one has explained to me why 7-year-olds need to have 80-foot lights beaming down on them," Carole Greco, who lives near the park, told supervisors. "If you consider the economic times we are in, I think it would be fiscally irresponsible for you to support these lights."

Supervisors acknowledged that money is tight but made clear that funding for the project will not come from the county's general fund. County officials said the project is specifically funded by proffers and will cost roughly $750,000.

Barbara Nugent, who oversees operations for the Park Authority, said her department has looked into lights that will mitigate spillover into the neighborhoods. It is also willing to reconsider the hours the lights remain on.

"I think the Park Authority is amenable to looking at the practicality of putting a time limit on the lights," Nugent said. "The Park Authority is more than willing to sit down with the board and make sure we get lights in, get some trees in . . . and have you hold us accountable."

Staff writer Kristen Mack contributed to this report.