RSS Feed
 |
|
|||||||||||||||
Plan for lighting Babylon athletic fields moves forward The Babylon School district moved one step closer to the reality of lighting its high school athletic field, when the Board of Education passed a resolution at its meeting on January 28 to move forward with an environmental impact review of the project. The lighting project is privately funded by the Babylon Turf Field Fund committee and imposes no additional expense on village taxpayers. Last year, the Turf Committee approached the Board of Education and school administration with an offer to fund the cost of installing lights on the field. The Turf Committee estimates the cost of the project at $90,000. The environmental review, as required by the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) for construction on public properties, is underway. The study should be completed by the end of March, according to school officials. The Turf Committee is paying the additional $3,200 fee for this study. The plans for the project move to the State Education Department's facilities planning department for review. This could take several months. We're hopeful we will have a boys or girls lacrosse game under the lights this spring," said Doug Sutherland, a member of the Babylon Turf Field Fund Committee. However, Babylon Schools Superintendent Ellen Best-Laimit PhD says that is unlikely, given the time needed to review plans and to facilitate construction. "Hopefully, we'll see lights this summer or early fall, in time for the foot ball season." Along with the SEQRA review, the district must file with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit, because the light poles will be located within 100 feet of a wetlands area (Argyle Lake). "We are hoping for a response on that by the end of March," said Darrel Conway, school board president. The lighting project calls for four stanchions, with poles 70 feet high, with an additional 17 feet buried in the ground. Techline Sports Lighting, based in Austin, Texas has been retained by the Turf Committee for the lighting project. According to Sutherland, it takes four to six weeks for the lights to arrive, once they are ordered, and about another week to install them.
"The Turf Committee is thankful for the support of the school board and administration and we look forward to a lit field in Babylon this spring," said Sutherland. "The school board and administration have been pleased with the level of support the community has shown toward this project," said Best- Laimit. "This is a good thing for the community."
|
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
||||||||||||||
