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Lighting Rules Leave Hillsborough Sport Parks In Dark

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By MIKE SALINERO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 29, 2008

TAMPA - It's been four years since Hillsborough County announced that Oscar Cooler Park in Lutz would be adding 32 acres for new football and soccer fields.

Now, as youth football teams hit the gridiron across the county for the fall season, the land slated for the expansion is still empty and unlit. The culprit: a peculiarity in Hillsborough County's outdoor lighting regulations.

The rules, spelled out in Hillsborough's land development code, limit the amount of illumination that can shine where a park boundary meets a residential area. The rules are meant to protect nearby homes from light pollution.

But the county has found it can't meet its own lighting limit at Oscar Cooler and other parks. That is because county rules state illumination at the park property line cannot exceed 1 foot-candle, which is the amount of light shed by a birthday candle on a wall 1 foot away.

At the same time, county rules require athletic fields to be lit with 30 foot-candles of illumination.

"You can't go from 30 foot-candles to 1 foot-candle in 10 feet," said Mark Thornton, director of the county Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department. "It's technically impossible."

The quirk has prevented the parks department from bidding out the Oscar Cooler lighting for more than six months while a county site evaluation committee reviewed the matter.

New Fields Sorely Needed

More than 2,000 children play in youth sports leagues at the park, and parents say the new fields are sorely needed.

"We were all thrilled when the county agreed to do it, but everybody is dragging their feet - I guess particularly the county," said Auralee Buckingham, a longtime volunteer at Oscar Cooler.

Thornton is having the same problem at Shimberg Park in Town 'N Country, where the county wants to add four soccer fields. The expansion would abut land zoned residential, but the area sits atop a former dump and is largely undevelopable.

"There are no houses there now, and there may never be, but it's zoned residential," Thornton said.

Likewise, the planned lighting at Oscar Cooler would affect a handful of homes at the most, Thornton said.

"There's no allowance in the land development code that says, 'That doesn't make sense,'" Thornton said.

Norman Weighs In

It's the kind of bureaucratic problem that drives County Commissioner Jim Norman crazy. Norman pushed to get the $1.2 million for the additional land at Oscar Cooler in 2004. At a commission meeting two weeks ago, Norman let his irritation show.

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous that we can't make a decision, work this out and get something done ... for the kids," he said at the meeting.

Norman's comments caused county planners to speed up a task force working on changes to outdoor lighting rules. The panel has proposed changes that will go to a public hearing before the Hillsborough Planning Commission on Oct. 13. The planning panel's recommendation will go to the County Commission for a final decision Nov. 13.

The proposed changes offer two avenues of relief:

• Let parks and other recreational facilities violate the lighting limits at property lines until 11 p.m. This change would apply to public and private recreational venues.

• Empower the director of the county Planning and Growth Management Department to issue variances to the lighting limits when the parks department requests them.

Normally, variances can take months. An application must be advertised and nearby property owners notified and given an opportunity to speak for or against it in front of a hearing officer.

The administrative variance would be quicker, said JoAnn Herron, senior professional engineer in the planning department.

The parks department has asked for a variance for Oscar Cooler Park, but the County Commission could pass the land code changes first. In the meantime, planning Director Peter Aluotto has agreed to let the parks department solicit bids for lights at the Lutz park.

"By the time they get ready to put up the lights they will be compliant," Aluotto said.

Oscar Cooler, who led the drive for a park on Lutz-Lake Fern Road 35 years ago, said he wasn't aware of the lighting hold-up. He said he's tried to keep up with the latest development plans, but has been slowed by a heart attack.

"I have no idea where it is right now, except it's ready except for a few small details," Cooler said. "But that was what I heard two months ago. I would have thought it would have been done by now."

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com.

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