Darien High School Field Usage, Hours Extended By P&Z Commission

DARIEN, CT — Usage of the Darien High School stadium lights and field has been expanded following a vote by the Darien Planning & Zoning Commission this week.

The commission voted 5-1 to amend zoning regulations and a special permit "to expand the hours and number of days that the lighting and public address facilities may be utilized, and to expand the permissible uses of the facilities from limited athletic use to include community wide events and activities, including those of groups and organizations unaffiliated with the Town or the School District," according to the application.

Under the changes, practices, games and other activities are allowed under the lights until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, unless there are extraordinary circumstances such as overtime or a delay due to injury or other unforeseen issues.

The number of events under the lights has been limited to 50 per calendar year.

The public address system may be used for high school junior varsity and varsity games only and the use will not go beyond 9 p.m. during weekdays and 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

The PA system may not be used for practices.

Additionally, the amendments now allow DHS to host FCIAC or CIAC playoff games that do not involve DHS.

In July, a public hearing was held on expanding light and public address usage. Residents were split, with opponents saying the noise from the public address system was more of a concern.

Over the past few weeks, commissioners have been weighing whether to include a condition in the permit that would have required the Board of Education to perform a noise impact assessment to monitor decibel levels at games and other activities to better understand impacts of the PA system

In a meeting on Sept. 6, Commissioner George Reilly said he felt requiring the Board of Ed. to test five separate games/events was reasonable. He mentioned 45 decibels as a baseline.

However, according to meeting minutes from Sept. 6, concerns were raised regarding the possibility of requiring noise measurements.

Commissioners noted that the exemption of sporting activities from the state's noise ordinance would preclude the commission or the planning & zoning office from taking any action based on the findings of the report.

Ultimately, noise tests were taken out of the permit.

"[Residents] absolutely have the ability to do their own testing. If they're aggrieved by this... If they believe [noise is] a nuisance, there is legal recourse. I don't think we should be the ones imposing this on an applicant. It's burdensome, and it's really not useful," said commissioner Michael Nedder during this week's meeting.

Commision Secretary Geoffrey Ball said noise near a school should be expected.

"You know that you're buying a house close to a school, like you know you're buying a house close to a highway. There's noise," he said.

Commissioner Amy Barsanti, who supported requiring the Board of Ed. to test earlier this month, changed course this week.

"At the end of the day, I do think the fact that we are going to potentially collect information and not have any plan to use it, led me to believe that I didn't think this was a prudent thing to do. It didn't make sense," she said, adding that a section in the permit allows residents to voice their concerns on the matter.

According to the adopted resolution, at the conclusion of each school year, by July 1, a report shall be submitted to the Planning & Zoning Office detailing the dates and hours the lights were used, which team or group used the stadium, as well as any complaints or comments received, and how they were addressed.

This report will also allow the Board of Education to consider what they could do differently to reduce impacts to neighboring property owners, and to better understand impacts of the lights and the public address system.

Reilly was the lone opposing vote on the entire item.

"I think there ought to be a way to determine by how much we're exceeding the actual decibel limitations that are in the statute," he said. "The reason I would oppose the entire resolution is after all this talk about noise, we will be doing nothing about noise."