Councilman: Does Field Policy Benefit the Whole Community or Sports Community?

Coaches and organizers of sports leagues had after the village council and high school-neighbors questioned the wisdom of the revised field use policy.

Fields Committee members Paul Sheridan (of the Ridgewood Lacrosse Association), Ed Seavers (of the Ridgewood Baseball Softball Association) Nick Scerbo (RHS Athletic Director) and Tim Cronin (Director of Parks and Recreation in the village) pitched the to the council on Wednesday after the school board approved the policy on Monday, which sets new parameters for greater use of the newly-turfed and lighted fields at the high school.

The council would need to agree to extend light times from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on as many as half of the Friday and Saturday evenings in the spring and fall seasons; one weekday night in the spring could go to 10 p.m.; and also allow Stevens to go to 10 p.m. on five out of six nights a week during a six week period of the summer for the document to become law. The document also clarifies priority of use, conduct policies, clearer parking directions.

But the big division between neighbors and the committee is the late light times.

The Fields Committee said it's not the intent or expectation that games regularly go to 10 p.m. but it needs the option given the considerable amount of recreation, the difficulty of scheduling and the overall lack of field space.

It said virtually every other town has later light times and youth could be impacted detrimentally if the 10 p.m. time were not allowed, as fewer games could be scheduled. They also said there are misconceptions that there will be large Friday-night-like football games every single Friday and Saturday, which is not the case they claim.

Perception it's been a 'piecemeal,' a councilman asks?

But the council members who spoke did not indicate strong sentiment to passing the document as proposed.

"Does this benefit the whole community or the sports community?" asked Councilman Stephen Wellinghorst after unleashing a barrage of pointed questions.

Wellinghorst said the reason the committee is even presenting to the council is because of self-created problems – removing baseball fields at B.F. to accommodate a track.

Tim Cronin, the villge's Park & Rec director said that it's out of the purview of that committee to alter fields. Instead, it makes improvements to existing areas with approval from either the village or board of education, which decided to eliminate the fields. And Fields Committee members didn't see the move as a bad thing.

"The movement of the track did limit B.F. but also did open up the Stadium," Scerbo said, which allowed for soccer to be on the wider field.

"What happened recently is a step in the right direction," scheduler Seavers said of the school board's decision to add the track at B.F.

The reason later hours are needed, Seavers said, is because of an explosion in participation and a lack of fields, which he said have been improved because of youth sports contributions. "We reached a point many, many years ago where we did not have fields," to accommodate use.

Should the 10 p.m. allowance not be granted by the council, what would be lost, Wellinghorst asked. "You need to schedule games at 6 o'clock and at 8 o'clock," Seavers responded. "It's the only way to schedule those baseball games. That's just a fact of the way it works."

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear – have you done any studies or analysis to determine what you'd lose in that hour?" Wellinghorst shot back. "We would lose a game of baseball," Seavers said, to which Wellinghorst pointedly asked: "And it's this committee's position that that outweighs the neighborhood?"

"It's our belief that the benefits of the community is such that being able to accommodate the programs for our youth . . ." Seavers said, which he currently found imbalanced. He said it's important for kids to not be at home playing video games and only older kids would be playing to 10 p.m.

Scerbo added that night football games could be lost if the council doesn't approve the policy, since games can't be scheduled at 7 p.m.

For Councilman Paul Aronsohn, there's a perception that changes taken place the fields changes have been given "as a piecemeal" because of a lack of overall community planning.

"Why didn't we step back as a community years ago and say 'If we're going to make these changes to our fields . . . let's think about the implication of this'? A perception is we didn't do that as a community."

Seavers denied it seems like piecemeal, saying the proposed changes are "consistent with the Master Plan," to which Mayor Keith Killion said, "plans change." The mayor added that it's an advisory document, a guide, but not set in stone.

Deputy Mayor Tom Riche asked why the committee didn't explore using fields in other towns. The committee itself didn't explore the issue, but individual members from various sport groups said they have and haven't found any fields available.

Sheridan did, however, say there are 27 other communities that were polled with lights beyond what Ridgewood has in time allowances, a good reason to approve the proposal.

Late light times child abuse?

Residents on North Irving and the surrounding streets near Stevens and RHS Stadium opined–as they have repeatedly at school board meetings–that a 10 p.m. possible end time would seriously hinder their quality of life.

Gerry Rossi, a resident of Beverly Road, said he thought the Fields Committee was more a special-interest cabal of sports enthusiasts than a body looking out for the better welfare of Ridgewood residents. He pointed to a noise problem he said won't go away at 10 p.m. if the request is granted. Rather, he said, people will hang out for as much as an hour, a serious detriment to neighbors.

"Neighbors call on you to protect us," he said to the council.

"The BOE [Board of Education] made this situation when they eliminated baseball from B.F. Our neighborhood can not be made to pay for their decision. It is not an emergency," neighbor Tom Kossoff said. "If one little game is not played the world will not stop and the kids will not suffer long-term damage."

Jim Morgan, who leads the Ridgewood High School Neighborhood Association which fought against the lights being erected at Stevens and Stadium Field, said such extended hours made him question where health and wellness stood as a priority in the community.

He pointed to sleep studies that show kids need far more sleep and setting 10 p.m. possible end times would be akin to non-malicious "child abuse."

Other residents said the combination of noise and lights will hurt the elderly, the young and those who like to go to bed early. Residents don't yet know the impact of the lights but school board member Laurie Goodman said they should be up and running in less than two weeks. Killion said he wants to see the lights on before making a concrete decision.

Sports groups, coaches, Fields Committee stump for policy

Fields Committee member at-large Brian Abdoo said, "My feeling is we very much listened to what they [neighbors] had to say. They say this was one-sided. That's untrue and unfair." Abdoo said the increase in hours really isn't much at all. "It's 65 days over the course of the year" which amount to only 65 hours, he said.

Scott Miller, a coach and softball player, said neighbors are trying to "spin this" by making it seem 6-year-olds will be playing through 10 p.m. In reality, he said, "it's only high school and upper middle school."

Jim Albano, of the RBSA, said older kids already stay up to 10 p.m. and frankly, if it were up to him, he'd "ask for more" in late end times. "What people don't understand is the numbers," he said, noting estimates that point to as many as 5,000 kids playing some form of sport in the village.

Fields Committee member Jeff Gluck, a member at-large who himself was asked onto the committee after once opposing the noisy generator lights at Glen School's field, said his neighborhood has "learned to deal with the lights" and again pointed to a shortage of fields as a need to approve the policy.

"Look at this for the greater good of the community," he implored the council.

The council plans to have the committee back again, possibly on March 23. Both the council and school board need to approve the document for it to become law.