School Board Agrees to Major Concession on Fields Use Policy, Holds Strong on Others

The school board and village council could finally be moving toward after the school board agreed in principle to a 9:00 p.m. lights cut-off time at Stevens Field. But several gaps appear to still remain between the two elected bodies.

The Ridgewood Board of Education on Monday night discussed pushing the council to accept its recommendation that RHS Stadium Field be allowed to be lit on as many as 20 Friday and Saturday nights until 10:00 p.m. while similarly pressing the council to keep Vets Field lit until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

In its –passed and the joint Fields Committee–the council passed a resolution stipulating that Stevens Field should not be lit past 9:00 p.m. on any night, and also that it would prefer a strict cap on the number of nights the primary high school football field would be lit.

Additionally, it tinkered with the lights-off time at Vets Field, proposing all games be firmly cut-off at 9:45 p.m. The current policy allows for lights to be on until 9:30 p.m. on weeknights while Fridays and Saturdays feature lit fields until 10:00 p.m.

School board members said few words regarding the decision to concede its pursuit of 10 p.m. lights-out times at Stevens, but has agreed to not push the 9:00 p.m. mark, members said.

For now, two large issues still remain.

Lucky number 20?

While the council itself did not offer a specific number to cap Stadium Field night games, village sources told Patch earlier this month that the "20" figure appeared high, a contention the neighbors of the high school also echoed.

Neighbor Jim Morgan, an organizer with the Ridgewood High School Neighborhood Association (RHSNA), said previously that the figure–originally suggested by the Fields Committee after it symbolically rejected the council's resolution–was "arbitrary" and "unnecessary," as the school-sponsored usage would hit nowhere near that total, he contended.

School board member Charlie Reilly–now the liaison to the Fields Committee–said Monday that the school-sponsored activities throughout the school year could total 16 nights, with varsity football comprising a total of five.

But the school-sponsored sports wouldn't be the only beneficiaries of later light usage.

"I think they'll want to do it," Superintendent of Schools Dr. Fishbein said of sports groups playing until 10 p.m. on Stadium Field a few times a year.

Bob Hutton, the board's vice president, said it was important to note that the referendum's passage that led to the field "improvements" was not specific to school-sponsored activities.

"Those lights, in my own personal definition, are part of a community expenditure to enable other programs than just an athletic team that carries 'RHS' on their jerseys [to use the facilities]," he said.

"Going back to the 20 [nights], it gives some of those other organizations opportunities during the course of the year to use those facilities," Hutton concluded.

Sport groups pledged to pay for a significant portion of the lights and should it not receive increased use.

There was also one dissenting voice to the school board's Stadium Field push.

Newly-elected member Christina Krauss said she felt 20 nights throughout the year was high.

"Twenty [nights] still rubs me the wrong way," Krauss said, suggesting a lower sum, like 12 nights, be offered for council consideration. "It gives me pause. I think of Stadium Field as strictly high school-related things and Stevens Field as more of a recreational facility."

"I think if we're going to limit one, there has to be opportunity for them [sports groups]," Lenhard said in response, explaining the council felt a 10 p.m. lights out time at Stevens was too late in a tight residential neighborhood.

A more 'consistent' lights-out time at Vets Field?

Though members appeared to feel strongly about the use cap on Stadium Field, several also felt the council should budge on its request for time uniformity on Veterans Field.

Lenhard, a supporter of a "firm" 10:00 p.m. lights out on Veterans Field, said she believes the council had broached the subject of possibly limiting weekend use time on Veterans because participants often played past 10:00 p.m. and the council wanted some controls.

"Ideally you'd want the games to end at 9:45 to allow for fifteen minutes of egress," board member Sheila Brogan said.

Instead, the school board proposal would have the lights go off at 10:00 p.m. with fifteen minutes of egress, in effect meaning a possible 10:15 total end time.

"Ten o'clock [lights out] would be consistent with the policy," Lenhard said.

Reilly suggested the village add light controls at Vets Field with the help of Musko, the lighting contractor that had installed the lights and computerized controls for the district. The village would be responsible for that cost, board members conceded.

"We don't think it will cost very much," Reilly said in speculation.

Lenhard told the board she would like a date for reexamination of any change to the proposed policy in September of 2012.

The council will now discuss the school board's discussion of its resolution. Both bodies will need to ratify any changes for a revised Fields Use Policy to take effect.