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2001-12-05 Meeting Report (Sports Field Lighting)Notes from SPIN #1 and #6 Meeting Sports Field Lighting at Bob Jones Park (South Soccer Fields) and Carroll Intermediate School (Football Field) Wednesday, December 5, 2001— Southlake Town Hall #3a and #3b Along with lighting concern, the longer that the lights are on, the longer the noise continues, if the lights go on, what are the time expectations for extended hours of play? Part of the demand for these lights is to open the soccer association to adult play, meaning that select leagues that play at night would happen at Bob Jones. Is that not what this request is for on behalf of the soccer association? You can understand that the residents' concern is that ten (10) years into the future, we will have high levels of noise late at night every night! The GSSA has still played on fields that are wet and have been closed by the city right now, what assurances do we have that the GSSA can control their own people when it comes to abiding by lighting expectations? If you haven't had a complaint at Bicentennial Park about lighting after hours it is because people have given up hope, I drive by Bicentennial at night (10:30 11:00) and the lights are on full blast and no one is out on the fields. Process question the City has stated that this is a "done deal" are we wasting out time here or is there still an opportunity to have input on this decision? You say a number of us have been at all of these public hearings in the past. In the last two (2) years the park has been open, and already there is a revocation on the commitment to not have a high concentration of active uses at a park where a commitment was made to keep the park passive and unique. There will be further lighting in the park to come and Bob Jones Park is going to end up just like Bicentennial Park. The way the agenda reads is that the request at P &Z is for a variance to the City Ordinance is that the requested action or is the requested action to light the fields at all? What are you doing that requires our input, to put lights in? To put more powerful lighting in? What is your request at P &Z? On the plans, this is non conforming to the City ordinance(s)? Do we do this with every sports field that will be lit in the future? What about lacrosse, I thought that Bob Jones would be for soccer only, is it going to occur that Bob Jones becomes for soccer and for lacrosse? Is there any movement possible on the sizing of the poles 70' seems very high? If I were a private entrepreneur would I have to have a SPIN meeting and then wait thirty (30) days prior to appearing at P &Z? Also, would I have to post public notification of my appearance at P &Z, because I haven't seen any notification that this was coming. Is there a plan that is available for us to look at to see what this would do to us? Notes from SPIN #1 and #6 Meeting Sports Field Lighting at Bob Jones Park (South Soccer Fields) and Carroll Intermediate School (Football Field) Wednesday, December 5, 2001— Southlake Town Hall #3a and #3b Park Board has changed their philosophy over the past few years, can Lacrosse and soccer share a lighted facility already in existence or somewhere else that is less controversial? Since when did we start building specific facilities for specific associations? I live directly across the road from these fields Is this proposal the same as what is in Bicentennial Park? We get three (3) fields now, when will the north fields be lighted also and play extended into night hours all throughout the park? Where is the closest example of this proposed system in use currently so that we have the ability to measure the impact for ourselves? What I find disturbing is that this proposal puts a "Soccer Master Plan" above the City's Master Plan that provides guidance for how our neighborhoods are going to be in the future, and a Master Plan that has this park designated as a passive park. The cumulative effect of this, the Clariden School (because they will want lighting on their fields once Bob Jones Park has it, as that was the restricting force against their requesting lighting when they went through the approval process) is that there will be extended use six (6) nights a week in our neighborhoods. I take offense to the assertion that development patterns that have occurred in the south part of the city are automatically going to move to the north part of the City. Those of us who have lived on the north side of town for a long period of time have worked hard to keep a flavor of what Southlake was, and what was the reason that a lot of us moved to Southlake in the first place. You are telling me that after I bought my land in order to get away from the traffic, noise, and lights, that now the City is going to bring these things to my doorstep? How did we arrive at six (6) nights a week up to 11:00 p.m. per night? Why are we using a Standardized Agreement with the soccer association for a park that is supposed to be a unique park? Where is GSSA practicing currently? A sports association seems to have more freedom than residents, why can't we work together to come to some type of accommodations on both sides? I don't agree with three (3) fields here if you have three (3) fields, you can't re- position the fields for younger ages. As for 70' poles, the people across the street from Bicentennial Park opposed a similar type arrangement at that facility. Most soccer kids are young kids, why do we have to have adult -sized fields at all? You are saying that a shorter pole increases the light impact, or does it decrease the impact? You just said that these were all going to be adult fields, and now you say that you can position the fields for younger kids, and earlier you said that younger kids was the source of the increased noise! Notes from SPIN #1 and #6 Meeting Sports Field Lighting at Bob Jones Park (South Soccer Fields) and Carroll Intermediate School (Football Field) Wednesday, December 5, 2001 Southlake Town Hall #3a and #3b How many months of the year are we talking about when these fields would be in use six (6) nights per week late into the evening? Are the lights only going to be used during the soccer season? Spillover plan I don't see any dimensions for the spillover reflected from these lights on this plan? If you get this variance for soccer fields, would you be able to just go and light the softball fields as well, or would you have to go through this process again? If you go for lighting on the softball fields, do you have to get a variance to the Master Plan for Bob Jones Park as well as a variance to the Lighting Ordinance? If the Master Plan is only a guide, why do we have to put lighting on the soccer fields at Bob Jones Park?