Groups Opposed to Residential Sports Parks and Lights
How a sports park can impact a residential neighborhood!
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Apr. 01, 2004 No lights to be built on sports fields 
Mountain View -- Neighbors in the Cuesta Park area of Mountain View declared a major victory last week when the city council voted unanimously not to place outdoor lights on the fields above the planned Graham Middle School campus.  Hundreds of neighbors signed a petition urging the council to pass the project without lights. At the March 23 meeting, dozens turned out to show their support. San Jose Mercury News Apr. 01, 2004
 

Sept 2004 River Forest Park, IL -- River Forest Park District officials withdrew from Village Board consideration Monday their plan for soccer field lights on the west end of Keystone Park, before village trustees could vote on a motion to reject the plan. Digital Chicago Inc

Opposed to Lights in Sports Parks  Lombard, Illinois -- Residents living near the park are saying they weren't told about the project, and are objecting that it would bring more traffic, noise, and trash to their neighborhood. "I love the park. But what good is it living next to a park if it's loud and active late at night and we can't even use it?"

Louisville, KY -- City enacts tougher noise ordinance, Residents have been suffering in silence. The ordinance prohibits people from playing music or making noise that can be heard from 50 feet away, and it calls for penalties of up to $500 and 180 days in jail for repeat offenders. Maj. Jay Pierce, commander of the department's Baker District said we have gotten the message!

Glendora Jr All American football practice within 50 feet of back yards at Goddard Middle School. Neighbors unable to open windows. If you have speakers on your computer you can experience the affects of living next to this facility.

Important Public Notice October 14, 2002 To All Area Residents and Property Owners: Public hearing pertaining to the proposed installation of sports lighting on the football fields at Goddard Middle School and Sandburg Middle School - Glendora California (PDF)

MORENO VALLEY CALIFORNIA -- City officials are planning deep cuts to a parks and recreation program that cannot pay for itself.  Cuts, changes, $850,000 must be cut from the Parks and Recreation Department to balance the budget. There must be a fundamental change in the part the city plays, to simply providing a place where they can play. And only those programs that pay their own way will survive.

Big Bear Lake Residents Upset About Park Lights   City Council meeting on the installation of lights in a sports park located in residential neighborhood

Thousand Oaks -- The noise, light pollution and increased volume of traffic on an already packed and dangerous Westlake Boulevard. will be horrendous. The residents want a scaled down park that ALL families can enjoy instead of a mega-sports complex. See follow up to this story below

Thousand Oaks- Addressing a packed room of residents, Loren Pluth, CRPD senior park planner, and David Volz, the landscape architect working with the district, said they were there to gather community input on what features should go into the park. However, their presentation was disrupted by many residents saying they don’t want a park constructed at that location. Pluth and Volz were not available to answer any questions after closing the meeting.
 

Save Magnuson Park  - Magnuson Park sits on a peninsula in Lake Washington surrounded by hillside residential neighborhoods. This location creates an amphitheater effect and amplifies sound from vehicles, human voices, loud speakers, sports participants and cheering fans directly up the hillsides surrounding the park

Rolling Meadows, IL -- Park Commissioner Sue Gould said she is against lights because if light spills into the neighborhood, it would have a negative impact on real estate values in the nearby homes. Voters rejected park lights
 

Council Meeting of APRIL 28, 2003 (Special) PAGE 4
Removal of lighting at Goddard and Sandburg from the Parks Master Plan Motion was made by Councilmember Herman and seconded by Councilmember Tessitor to remove the issue of permanent lighting at the Goddard and Sandburg football fields from the Parks Master Plan

The motion carried 4-0 as follows: AYES: Conway, Hamlow, Herman, Tessitor; NOES: None; ABSENT: Clifford.

NOTE: City Attorney D. Wayne Leech clarified that staff will prepare a formal resolution to officially remove these items from the Parks Master Plan. The resolution will be on the Consent Calendar at the meeting of May 13, 2003.

Proposition 12 -- When people look at their neighborhood, many dream of parks filled with grass and trees. Proposition 12 may make that a reality. Source: KTTV-TV - Los Angeles


Philadelphia  Board of Supervisors  December 12, 2003 "This is about how we pay for park and recreation in a fair way. We have some facilities here - the pool is one - which is funded 100 percent by user fees. The golf course will be funded 100 percent by user fees. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask our sports groups to pay a portion of the cost of these fields," said Stainthorpe. Hackman called the compromise increase "fair and reasonable."

Eastside Friends of Lake Washington is a group formed of Eastside citizens opposed to the Seattle Parks Department plans to construct eleven lighted sports fields at Magnuson Park at Sand Point in Seattle. They represent several neighborhood associations, as well as other concerned citizens
 

Neighbors object to park lights -- ASHLAND OREGON -- Thirty people addressed the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission Monday night concerned about sports lighting in North Mountain Park.  Neighbors decried the proposed lights, saying they would decrease property values and disturb neighbors as people wandered to their cars after the night games. "This will ensure no one sleeps in the North Mountain neighborhood late into the night," said Bonnie Moody...

Phillipsburg PA --Town Council wants to make things a little quieter in town at night. ''Sometimes we don't need a big outcry to respond to something,'' said Shelly. ''I just think it's a quality of life issue.''
By Harley Payette -- Special to The Morning Call
 

City Revamps Softball Complex Plans
POWAY CA -- Marge Knothe, who has helped collect 2,000 signatures from residents opposed to the new park, said the plan is basically the same because there will still be four softball fields in a rural area that is supposed to remain open space.
Calvert Communications Inc.
 

A Soccer Saturday From Hell Last Saturday was particularly bad. It was truly a Saturday from hell. It was the Thanksgiving weekend and the beginning of a new soccer program . One irate person in an oversized SUV knocked over three of the trash cans with green waste and spilled the contents all over the street
 

Loudoun County VA  "the board made a decision on citizen input and the park lights lost."

MARIETTA GA -- "Imagine you get up and get your cup of coffee and walk out onto your back porch. Then you hear this roar, and at first you don't know what it is, but then you hear the PA system telling you what it is."

NAPLES FL -- January 16, 2004 Results from a recent county-paid survey revealed the majority of homeowners who responded to the questionnaire opposed implementing the park plan.

The city of Elkhart is planning a summer noise ordinance crackdown. There were about 620 noise ordinance violation tickets written last year in the city of Elkhart. Population 51,874
WNDU TV 5/18/04

Not Zoned for Night Lights - Odessa, Florida -- Neighbors complain about the noise from night practices, saying it interferes with life at home and the baseball field is not zoned for night games

Seattle Resolution - Athletic fields within residential zones and increasing the number of hours of play at athletic fields could negatively impact neighborhoods by generating an increase in traffic, noise, lighting, and parking if not adequately mitigated

CLOVIS CA -- December 12, 2003 Neighbors said building a ballpark would disrupt their serene, rural country lifestyle. Noise, traffic and lights from a baseball park are not welcome in their neighborhood, they said. The debate went on for nearly two hours.

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ORINDA CA Residents cheer new noise ordinance -- The problem, they say, began about three years ago when the Orinda Country Club put in a new sound system at the pool. It carried everything from swim meet announcements to blaring party music, sometimes as high as 70-80 decibels. Then, a couple of months ago, amplified sound began coming from the Orinda Park Pool, they said.

"I'd really prefer not to hear about every stroke that Johnny makes while he's going down the lane," Taylor said.

"It think it's great. It shows that the area is vibrant; it's alive," Appelbaum said. "All I can say is: Oh, well. If you want total quiet, then you have to live up in the mountains, away from everybody."
By Ashley Surdin -- Contra Costa Times Aug 11, 2004