UPDATED: School Board Members Shoot Down Late Light Times; More Specifics Needed

With spring sports nearly underway, the interests of those affected by the polarizing point of field light times will need to find common ground on a divisive issue that has ensnarled a wide collection of groups in the village. On Monday night, the Fields Committee presented its proposed revisions to the

for a plan drafted and unanimously voted for by the Fields Commitee–which includes the Parks and Recreation head, community members, school board representative Laurie Goodman and Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh–but the board of education said despite great effort, they needed more clarity before they could give the revisions a go-ahead.

At issue is the late hours of operation. Paul Sheridan, the head of the Ridgewood Lacrosse Association who drafted many of the revisions of the document as a member of the Fields Committee, said the revision recommends that games have end times of 10 p.m. on some nights, an hour later than the current policy, which neighbors object to and government boards have expressed concern with.

The revision adds new conduct provisions against unruly behavior, drinking, smoking; as well as asking that parking directions be provided; adds changes to priority of use; changes Friday and Saturday end times to 10 p.m. and adds six weeks in June and July where games can run to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

School Board Response

The Board of Education said it might be holding this up, as under the proposed revision its members did not find the balance between the residents' requests and the need to provide an appropriate level of recreation opportunities. Board Vice President Bob Hutton said he found having consecutive days (Friday and Saturday) with lights up to 10 p.m. to be inappropriate for the neighborhood and suggested there could be a clause to ensure that consecutive days don't happen.

Board President Michele Lenhard said while she applauded the effort, there needs to be more concrete times than the general block schedules, which don't assuage concerns for many opponents.

Laurie Goodman, who had voted in favor of the proposed revision as liaison, said it was difficult as "much has to be left to the imagination." Predicting concrete schedules along with weather is a logistics nightmare, school officials and sport directors acknowledged. The board plans to vote on the living document at its Feb. 28 meeting. There may be more changes made to the revision to reflect the board's feedback.

The village council has not yet received the document and may not get a hearing in until March, Parks and Recreation Director Tim Cronin admitted. Both bodies must approve the document for it to become law. Councilwoman Bernadette told Patch that she voted to approve the document but it wasn't an endorsement of the full proposal per se, but rather moving the document forward to the council and school board.

"To me it was not an endorsement," she said. "I guess the bigger question is during the process, I voiced my concerns with the document but probably 98 percent of the document I agree with." Walsh said she didn't want to hold up the process and thus, voted to advance the proposal.

"The only issue of the document is the timing," she said. She'll vote on the document when it reaches the council.

Fields Committee member a hypocrite?

Neighbor Tom Kossoff said the plan is just too much for the neighborhood, particularly at that 'late' hour. He complained that the lights are far too close to homes and that will prove troublesome for children who need sleep, some of whom will need 14 hours according to some studies. "It's not the fields or the lights, it's location, location, location," Kossoff said. "Sadly, no one in charge of this project was responsible in building this project further away [from affected homes]." He concluded by saying "there's no sense to bring destruction to this neighborhood," under the plan as presented.

Kossoff also charged that one member of the fields committee–Jeff Gluck–is a hypocrite. Kossoff said he found it odd that Gluck was in full support of these lights that he claims will adversely affect the quality of life of neighbors when he had been against the diesel-powered lights at Glen School years ago.

Gluck later said that while he was against them, years later he's found they're not as bad as he imagined, the stadium lights are angled differently and have minimal spillage. "It's a different animal," he said. Overall, he said, the schism between supporters and opponents is "rectifiable." But, he said, the board of education should grant its approval. "Holding this up would not be for the greater good," he said.

Sardines need space too!

Because the upgrade of some facilities as part of the referendum reduced or eliminated uses for some sports–notably in baseball and softball–teams are "crammed like sardines" onto the fields and allowing for games to run to 10 p.m. "on a limited basis, is reasonable," Sheridan said. He told the board of education that many other communities allow for even later times and has said that Ridgewood's among the most restrictive communities in terms of how late fields can be used.

While facilities may be upgraded to a "premiere" level at Stevens and RHS Stadium with the renovations, said Athletic Director Nicholas Scerbo, the increased use won't alleviate problems. "We need to extend hours," he said.

Cronin and Sheridan both said that neither the neighbors nor the sport groups are happy, and maybe that's the way it should be on such a divisive issue. 

The committee says it took into account the views of the neighbors when drafting the document and a 10 p.m. time "is reasonable," Sheridan said. About 12-16 nights over the fall and spring would be lit under this proposal.

Baseball/softball impact

Ed Seavers, long-time head of the Ridgewood Baseball and Softball Association (RBSA) told the school board that 2,000 kids are served by his organization and they've been struggling to find fields and time for its constituents. Seavers also said that cutting off an 8 p.m. game time would effectively kill a second game at night. The problem has been exacerbated by the district passing on intramurals to it, a result of budget cuts.

"You asked us to pick up the slack and we don't need our hands tied," Seavers said to the school board.

With the upgrades, more teams would be vying for use at Stevens, displacing the baseball/softball groups. Ridgewood is in the unique situation of having sports rec leagues handle the vast majority of athletics in town, but with limited field space and few concrete plans to add any in an economy where village workers could again be without jobs, plans for renovating Shedler seem more dream than reality.

Lower Hawes and Shedler could house a full-size baseball diamond though opening up GW and Habernickel for small fields won't solve the problem, Seavers said. He could reinstate lost programs or retain some that are threatened if another full-size ball field is opened up, he said. Men's softball could face the axe this year "for the first time" Seavers said.

Fields Committee member Brian Abdoo also defended the June and July 10 p.m. time, which elicited concern. Abdoo pointed out that that period is the summer solstice and it would still be light by 9:15 p.m. Those 45 minutes shouldn't have much effect on neighbors, he said.

Sport Parents Rally, questions remain as to funding pledge

A number of supporters came to the microphone in support of the later end times. Resident Bob Davies told the council board they should approve the plan and "give it a year" to see the results.

Kossoff disagreed, saying the opposite approach should be taken. "Give it a year? Are you kidding me?" he said. "Let's take it in baby steps," he said.

The decision should be to keep times at 9 p.m. and if things go well, extensions could be made, Kossoff offered.

Sheridan refuse to answer if his sport group would pull funding for the lights the sports groups pledged in July if the 10 p.m. request is not granted. "I'm not going to answer that," he said when asked after the presentation.

Seavers has already stated he will pull funding if later starting times are not granted. but have no written agreement with the school board, who legally bear the cost.

[Editor's note: the headline has been altered to reflect that some members aren't in favor of the light hours specifically as presented; the board plans to vote on Feb. 28.]