Siena College will seek a variance to recently interpreted town code that put four proposed 90-foot light towers 50 feet above town height limitations.
Last week, town planners approved the college’s new athletic field proposal with four-40-foot light poles as allowed under current town regulations. However, to meet NCAA regulations for a Division 1 school, the college must install 90-foot poles to provide adequate lighting.
To the chagrin of near by residents, it will seek a variance to do so through the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The light poles are an essential part of this field, said Robert Sweeney, the attorney representing the college as it wades through the planning process. `forty-foot light poles don’t do it for us. It is our intension to seek a variance for the 90-foot poles. If we don’t do this now we loose a construction season.`
After the college was told in March that the poles were acceptable as an accessory to the proposed field by the town’s building department the college moved on financing the project with the hopes to have it built before the upcoming athletic season.
Bonds were issued by the state Dormitory Authority and were then sold to finance the project, said Sweeney. In the final minutes of a two and a half hour long planning board meeting on May 16, the college’s proposal halted as a town attorney opinion contradicted the building department’s decision two months prior. That opinion held and Siena’s towers were considered structures, rather than accessories, as such they are subject to town code that prohibits structures over 40-feet tall.
Clough Harbour and Associates, the engineering firm that designed the proposal did not alter the plan from previous meeting with planners. The only change came in the form of four-40-foot towers, rather than the preferred 90-feet.
Residents are still skeptical of the project despite measures the college incorporated into the plans based on previous meetings with planners and area residents.
`All of the talk was about the reduction of glare and not the elimination of glare,` said Spring Street resident, Sharon Alley.
Prior to last Tuesday’s meeting, Alley cast 20 helium balloons into the air fastened to 90-feet of fishing line to show the potential impact of the proposed 90-foot towers.
`It’s tall and goes over the tree-line. Even if you have 10 games a year (under lights) we still have to look up at those frankenpines. It ruins our horizon,` said Alley.
Alley, backed by several residents, asked why the college considered doing away with night games and foregoing the lights. Residents have also accused the college of poor relations with its neighbors and contend that the new athletic field will bring more noise; something the college hasn’t dealt well with when it comes to complaints from neighbors.
Siena has proposed a public address system that will be heard at a level of 34 decibels ` 40 decibels less than town’s noise ordinance ` 150 feet from the source speakers. The noise ordinance prohibits sound measured 20 feet from the property line above 75 decibels`the equivalent of loud singing from three feet away ` between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Siena is seeking to replace its current field with a proposed 350 by 260 foot synthetic playing field. The men’s and women’s lacrosse and soccer teams and women’s field hockey will play on the new field.
The plan calls for the 90-foot poles with 21 low spill-off fixtures per pole. A new public address system and press box with bleacher seating for 1,000 is also part of the proposal.
College administrators have described the new field as a necessity to the campus, and to keep the college competitive.
After meeting with residents in the initial planning of the field’s designs, college officials agreed to close the field to the student body by 9:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 p.m. on weekends. The field will be used for intramural sporting events, but the lights and sound system will not be turned on for those events, according to college officials.
The college has yet to send an application to the ZBA seeking a variance for the 90-foot poles.“