At Fairfield Hills—

P&Z Approves Lighting For Nighttime Baseball

By Andrew Gorosko

Following a public hearing on plans to install lighting towers at a new full-size baseball field at Fairfield Hills, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approved the sports illumination project sought by the Parks and Recreation Commission.

P&Z members on July 3 approved the project, which would allow the town to install four 80-foot-tall and four 70-foot-tall lighting towers at the baseball field, which is not yet in use. The irrigated bluegrass field has 90-foot base paths. Baseball is scheduled to start at the field in September. The town has two smaller, unlit baseball fields on Mile Hill Road South, near Cochran House at Fairfield Hills.

The field lighting plans gained a P&Z endorsement, with P&Z member Dennis Bloom voting in opposition.

In approving the illumination plans, P&Z members decided that lighting the baseball field is consistent with the purpose and intent of the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. P&Z members found that the application meets the requirements of a special permit. They also found that lighting the field is consistent with the provisions of the Fairfield Hills Adaptive Reuse (FHAR) zoning regulations.

P&Z members are requiring that the field lighting be shut off by 10 pm.

The homes nearest to the baseball field are along Mile Hill Road South and along Nunnawauk Road.

The baseball field lighting project, however, still requires another approval from the P&Z. On July 17, the P&Z has scheduled a public hearing on a proposal to modify its zoning regulations on “exterior lighting standards.” The proposed changes to those rules would allow the specific lighting structures proposed for the baseball field. The lighting towers proposed for the field are taller than the current zoning regulations allow.

Public Hearing

Before the P&Z endorsed the baseball field lighting proposal, the applicant and residents discussed the matter at a public hearing.

Carl Samuelson, assistant director of parks, told P&Z members than a 270-foot-long strip of pavement in front of Kent House at Fairfield Hills would provide sufficient parking for baseball this fall when the field would have its first play. Also, some temporary parking would be available behind the ball field, he said.

In the future, permanent parking facilities will be constructed at Fairfield Hills for its multiple new uses.

Mr Samuelson said the light emitted by the fixtures atop the lighting towers will be focused downward onto the baseball field to reduce light scatter in the area.

The field lights would be turned on and off by computer, based on preprogrammed schedules, he said. A person would be on-call to control the lights manually, if needed, he said.

Resident David Steiner of 6 Nunnawauk Road posed a series of questions about the effects that baseball field lighting would have on nearby residents.

Mr Steiner asked whether the presence of a lit baseball field would extend the daily hours of the Fairfield Hills core campus.

Mr Steiner objected to illuminating the baseball field due to its proximity to area residences. He said he is concerned about the presence of such lighting and people’s activity nearby late at night.

“It’s annoying. It’s disruptive to the neighborhood,” he said of the presence of sports field lighting, mentioning the prospect of added noise in the area.

 Mr Steiner said the approximately $300,000 cost of lighting the field is expensive.

 Ron Schmidt, the president of Newtown Babe Ruth baseball, said the local need for full-size baseball fields is pressing. “The need for big fields is acute,” he said. The new field will be used by teenage players, he said.

Edward Marks, chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission, explained to P&Z members how baseball games are scheduled for local ball fields.

P&Z member Richard English observed that having lighting equipment at the new baseball field will create a demand for nighttime play at that field.

He said he is sensitive to Mr Steiner’s concerns about the presence of an illuminated baseball field resulting in the Fairfield Hills core campus remaining open to the public into the nighttime.

The P&Z approved construction of the new baseball field in May 2007.

The baseball field was constructed on the land that formerly held Fairfield House at Fairfield Hills.

The new baseball field is one component of the town’s ongoing redevelopment of Fairfield Hills, a former state psychiatric hospital that the town bought from the state for $3.9 million in August 2004. The 187-acre site includes many large masonry buildings that formerly were used for patient care and services. Town redevelopment plans call for the demolition of some buildings.