Loudoun County Rejects Sports Park
 Supervisors Show Concern For Local Residents

Apr 02, 2004 -- Loudoun Supervisor Snow’s motion to add another $800,000 to light a sportsplex and a football field at Franklin Park failed on a 4-5 vote, with Supervisors Burton, Delgaudio, Sally R. Kurtz (D-Catoctin), Waters and Staton opposing.

Burton first opposed the motion saying that too many people who live near the park are concerned about the lights and he does not agree with the Purcellville Town Council’s unanimous request that lights be installed in the park as envisioned in the original design. Burton also said he wants to see if a public/private cooperation can be created at the county-owned Field’s farm property north of Purcellville where a deal is proposed to allow youth sports leagues to build ball fields.

Burton’s comments and the subsequent vote frustrated two Purcellville council members in attendance, Beverly Macdonald and Steve Varmecky, as they shook their heads in disbelief. Snow threw his hands up and said he has tried three times to get the funding in place and even withdrew his motion, before bringing it back. Waters proposed deleting funds for a new Dulles South multipurpose center, approved at Snow’s request during the last budget mark up session, to pay for the improvements to Franklin Park. That motion, which Snow called “vindictive,” failed.

“You can see the resistance here,” Snow said. “What we got is people who don’t care.”

Could be they have people who care about the Residents!!

 

Early 2003

Some residents living along Tranquility Road east of the park and in the
nearby Farmington on the Green development strongly opposed, not just the
proposal to light the ballfields, but the concept of using Franklin Park as
a sports complex. Some complained they were led to believe the park would be
designed for passive recreational use only, although the official record
refutes that claim.

John Harris, formerly of Patton, Harris & Rust, who supervised the Franklin
Park design, said it was the desire of Parks and Recreation staff to address
the growing needs of youth sports. That being the case, lights were a
critical component. "It was pure politics," he said, adding "the board made
a decision on citizen input, and the lights lost."

Donald Vore, a resident of Tranquility Road to the east of Franklin Park
since 1989, remembers the long battle over whether to light the ballfields
well. An avowed opponent of lights, Vore said "the land was bought as a
park. But what they wanted was a sports complex."

Over the years, Vore has built up an extensive file on the development of
the park master plan and the extensive public hearings. At the time of the
bond referendum, the nearby Farmington on the Green subdivision was still
under construction. Vore said he and others wanted a quiet recreational
park, not lighted ballfields, and claimed the county had changed the focus
of the park. The original plan called for lights on 70 foot poles.

"It's dark out here," he said, noting Tranquility Road residents can see the
lights at Fireman's Field baseball stadium in Purcellville, about a mile away.

 
An overview on the Law of Nuisance -  Glendora Code on Noise
Glendora Code on Zoning  - Glendora Environmental Impact Report
 

Home Site Map