{"id":4163,"date":"2012-07-04T09:50:42","date_gmt":"2012-07-04T13:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=4163"},"modified":"2012-07-04T09:50:42","modified_gmt":"2012-07-04T13:50:42","slug":"ks-council-opts-to-send-stadium-light-plan-to-next-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=4163","title":{"rendered":"KS Council opts to send stadium light plan to next step"},"content":{"rendered":"

Large crowd attends Borough Council meeting to witness decision, voice opinions<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio<\/strong>, Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The long process to add lighting for Kennett High School’s football field took another step forward after Borough Council decided to send the proposal to the Chester County Planning Commission for comment, rather than forcing a restart of the variance process \u2014 which would have put light supporters back at square one.<\/p><\/div>\n

KENNETT SQUARE \u2014 The long process to install lights at Kennett High School’s football field took another step forward Monday night, as the Borough Council agreed to send a revision to the borough’s zoning ordinance on to county planning authorites for comment, rather than start over from scratch, despite the objection of neighbors of the school.<\/p>\n

Those gathered in support of the proposed stadium lights \u2014 including student athletes, parents, coaches, and school district administrators \u2014 greatly outnumbered those against the project\u2019s fruition, comprising record-setting attendance for a Kennett Borough Council meeting. Despite the odds, however, those residents against the construction of the nearly 70 foot high light towers were adamant in voicing their opinions to the council.<\/p>\n

The council stated before public comment was allowed to begin that the only two outcomes possible from the meeting were either for the council to pass the text amendment to the zoning ordinance that would permit the lights onto the Chester County Planning Commission for further review, or to start the variance process again from scratch.<\/p>\n

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Kennett Square Borough Council members (from left) Danilo Maffei, George “Chip” Plumley and F. Sean Walker look on as residents voice opinions Monday night \u2014 pro and con \u2014 to proposed lights for Kennett High School’s stadium.<\/p><\/div>\n

With that being said, the first speaker to approach the podium on the district\u2019s behalf was Matt Sterner, a representative of Musco Lighting \u2014 the supplier and manufacturer of the lights for the project.\u00a0 Sterner went on to describe the evolution of Musco\u2019s stadium lighting technology from the first generation open-bulb lighting array to the current generation of visor-lighting which directs light solely onto the field instead of skyward and in other directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hooded visors cut off normal up-light and redirect it back to the playing field. It also reduces spillover light in the surrounding area,\u201d Sterner said addressing concerns that the stadium lights would contribute to light pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that the majority is ultimately going to prevail,\u201d Attorney David Malman said \u201cBut we\u2019re standing here for the rights of the people who are nearby the field and who will be impacted on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malman is the attorney for those opposing the lights project. He went on to read a list of terms for the proposed usage of the stadium lights, such as restriction to school activities and a revision to the hours and days of operation. Eventually Malman was cut off by Borough Council President David Miller for exceeding the public comment time limit.<\/p>\n

Several comments were also made by residents stating that the school district was inflexible in terms of cooperating with the needs of residents. Responding to this, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Barry Tomasetti took to the podium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first came to this district I was approached by the Demon Lights Committee and was asked to come on board with this project. I thought it was a great idea; it makes our school district look attractive,\u201d he said. \u201cMy interest is trying to make [Kennett Square] one of the best places for young people. We have been very responsive to our neighbors\u2026our school board won\u2019t allow me as the superintendent to ignore the issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere probably will be some inconvenience,\u201d he continued, \u201cI don\u2019t sit in the shoes of the neighbors here. But I do live in the Kennett school district, I have children that participate in extra-curricular activities; the best anti-drug program that we have are the extra-curricular activities that the school provides. I\u2019m interested in making those attractive and getting more kids invested in them. But I promise that we will be dedicated to being good neighbors \u2014 I will guarantee that and our school board will guarantee that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least one resident, Ann Causey, whose property directly overlooks the high school\u2019s football field, was unsatisfied with the Superintendent\u2019s guarantees as well as the technical statements from Sterner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to remind the Borough Council that the lighting expert is a salesman; he is a Musco lighting expert, not necessarily a lighting expert,\u201d she said. \u201cThese lights are going to tower over the school. They\u2019re going to be visible, even when they\u2019re not lighted, from everywhere in our wonderful little quaint historic borough. It\u2019s not a very historic look to see huge aluminum light fixtures over the gorgeous fa\u00e7ade of that school building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine that they need those fields that much for practices that 240 nights out of the year they need to have that field lit until 10 o\u2019clock at night. That\u2019s just obtuse; you can\u2019t even imagine how unrealistic that is. They can have their practices during the daylight hours\u2026bring in lights for special events, bring in lights for your football games\u2026take them right back out, and Kennett stays the same small town it is now with this beautiful historic architecture that people have fought and spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to preserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Causey\u2019s entreaties, the Borough council voted to send the proposed amendments to the County Planning Commission for further review. The public hearing is scheduled for August 6th<\/sup> where deliberation will continue at the county-level.<\/p>\n

For more information on the history of the stadium lighting issue, visit\u00a0http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=3936<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Large crowd attends Borough Council meeting to witness decision, voice opinions By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio, Staff Writer, The Times KENNETT SQUARE \u2014 The long process to install lights at Kennett High School’s football field took another step forward Monday night, as the Borough Council agreed to send a revision to the borough’s zoning ordinance on to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}