By Kerri Williams

WESTPORT – Planning and Zoning Commission members discussed amending regulations to expand lighting for the town’s athletic fields during a public hearing Monday, where several neighbors spoke out against noise and glare they fear could result from nighttime play.

P&Z members decided to continue the hearing before voting on the text amendment next week. Several members said they would support the proposal with a few “tweaks.”

“We’ve had a ‘no lights’ policy for 13 years,” said P&Z Chair Paul Lebowitz. “Making these changes should not be taken lightly.”

Changes under review for more than a year

Members of a P&Z subcommittee have spent more than a year working on the framework that would allow individual lighting applications for each field.

Proponents stressed that plans tailored to each field would be required wherever lighting is proposed, taking into account a field’s particular dimensions and proximity of neighbors.

The initiative began after the expiration of a 2011 court-stipulated judgment settling a lawsuit filed by neighbors over installation of permanent lighting at the Staples High School stadium. 

Shedding light on different angles

Under the proposal, the height of lighting could not exceed 80 feet and no field could be illuminated on Sundays. Public address systems and amplified music would be allowed only during games at high school fields.

“We spent hours slicing and dicing this,” said Michael Cammeyer, commission secretary who led the field-lighting initiative. “This was fleshed out of a lot of ideas and opinions.”

Proponents of the field lighting said it would allow young athletes to practice and play games in the evenings, making up for a current shortage of available field time. “Our town needs this to compete with others,” Cammeyer said.

Neighbors have concerns

But Edie Anderson, who has lived 40 years next to Long Lots Elementary School, said no one reached out to get her opinion. 

“Having the fields lit up is a huge imposition,” she said.  Her husband, Sam Anderson, added that soccer already is played less than 20 feet from their property from April through November. “Adding lights, there would not be any down time,” he said.

P&Z member John Bolton said that neighbors were “cool” with amendment, citing new technology that limits light pollution, directing illumination straight down and not into adjacent yards. “Lights get people together,” he said. “… There’s not a whole lot not to like about this.” 

Better maintenance, not more lights

But one neighbor, Julianne Mulvey, said people living nearby town athletic fields, “are in no way cool with this.”

She suggested the town should instead focus on better maintenance of existing fields — several of which have been rendered unusable — as an alternative to adding playing time after dark. “You are putting all the pressure on the neighbors to absorb the lights,” she said.

David Floyd, the Parks and Recreation Commission chair, countered that, “There is only so much you can do to extend the usage of grass fields.” `

Another mother of three who lives near Staples High School said she heard about the meeting only hours before it began, and was concerned about noise generated by late games and practices. “Little kids go to bed at 7. Practices go on until 9,” said Shelby Keefer. 

For some, noise is the bigger issue

In fact, many of those who raised questions about the proposed text amendment were more concerned about disruptive noise caused by players and and crowds than by lights.

One of the positives about field lighting is that it would allow girls more playing time, providing gender equity, according to recreation officials. But Keefer noted that more equitable sharing fields by boys and girls teams could be attained without new lighting.

“I agree that adding lights is not the only way to achieve equity,” said VJ Sarullo, the school district’s athletic director. But an example he cited where lights would make a difference is the custom field for field hockey, where girls’ play is restricted to daylight hours because there are no lights.

After a series of suggestions by speakers from the public, as well as commission members, the proposed text amendment was referred to P&Z Department staff for revisions.

The commission hopes to act on the revised amendment at its next meeting, which will take place online at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10.

Kerri Williams is a freelance writer who has worked in journalism for years, including as a reporter for the Norwalk Hour and managing editor of the Norwalk Citizen-News.