City Ordinance Could be Hurdle for Lighting Fields at Skyview

A Lake Elmo lighting ordinance has become the latest potential hurdle Oakdale city staff and the Oakdale Athletic Association face in trying to add lighted ball fields for youth sports games and practices.

School District 622 has asked that the fields be placed on the east side of the property—land that lies in Lake Elmo, Parks and Recreation Director Bruce Anderson told the Oakdale Park and Recreation Commission at its meeting Tuesday, March 15.

Lake Elmo’s lighting ordinance limits the height of light poles to 30 feet in non-residential districts and 15 feet in residential districts.

Anderson said the proposed poles, which would light three fields, would be 60 to 70 feet high.

Despite the ordinance, he said, Lake Elmo officials have been open to the project, and he’s hopeful they can work something out.

“This certainly would not impact negatively anybody,” Anderson said, because there aren't homes close by. “We’ve got to go back to Lake Elmo and find out where they’re at with this. Can they rezone this? How might this work?”

With no formal proposal from Oakdale, Lake Elmo City Administrator Bruce Messelt said it’s premature to say whether the lighting could be somehow allowed. He did say the city has tried to work cooperatively with the schools.

Lake Elmo Mayor Dean Johnston also said it's premature to say what will happen, but he said he expects staff from the two cities to work together.

“I would be surprised if there was a problem with it,” he said. “The City of Lake Elmo is a lot more interested in working with our neighbors on issues like these then maybe in the past.”

This site wasn’t the Oakdale Athletic Association’s first choice for the lights.

The association had originally proposed placing the lights and adding fields on the Skyview property north of 12^th Street, but District 622 officials opposed that location. Land between and was also considered.

Athletic Association officials toward the project by tacking on $5 to each registration fee. This would have covered one-third of the cost of placing the lights north of 12th Street, but Anderson said the price will likely be higher at the east Skyview site because it's a larger area. He's seeking bids for lighting the east Skyview site as well as a field at , which he said should be a long-term consideration of the city.

A representative from the athletic association has said they want to add lighted fields in town because it is too hard to get practice time in after they get field access at 6 p.m. in the fall, when the days are short.

The Parks and Recreation Commission is planning to discuss the issue with the Oakdale City Council at a joint workshop April 12.