Athletic lighting proposal needs funding

An audience of about thirty Rappahannock County High School officials, parents and students gathered this past Monday to hear details of a proposal to install lights at Rappahannock's school athletic fields.

Representatives from Musco Sports Lighting, a manufacturing company that has provided lights for professional and college sports as well as high school stadiums, said the total price for the project would come in at just under $400,000.

Funding for the lights has not yet been nailed down, but according to officials with the Rappahannock County School Sports Association (RCSSA), the sports booster organization that hosted the event, tax dollars are not a target.

"We're looking to keep taxpayer dollars out of this," said RCSSA President Rich Hogan.

Musco representatives said plans for the individual fields could be pursued separately. The price tag would be $157,620 for the stadium, $156,783 for the baseball field and $80,597 for the softball field.

RCSSA's Hogan expressed interest in setting up lights at the stadium as a first step.

"Ultimately we want to do it all," he said.

Hogan noted that lighting the stadium would benefit the football, soccer and track teams -- which compete there -- as well as the school band.

The cost for the lights could be paid off annually over a period of up to ten years if the county were to hold the lease for the project, Musco's district sales manager Matt Ellenberger said.

The cost for the project would include 25 years of free maintenance.

Ellenberger estimated it would cost about $14 an hour to light the fields.

The plans call for four poles at the high school stadium stadium, eight poles at the baseball field and four poles at the softball field.

Purcellville-based Beckstrom Electric would be contracted to install the lights.

The lights would incorporate new technology that cuts operating costs in half and reduces light pollution by 50 percent, said Musco's Virginia sales representative Steve Wiley.

Wiley said that the new technology, which makes use of reflective covers, directs 70 percent of light onto the field. Thirty years ago only 25 percent of light was kept on the field.

Currently the school's fields do not have lighting and Rappahannock is unable to host night games.

Rappahannock County High School Athletic Director Bob Czekaj said that the lights would probably be turned off at around 9:30 on game nights.

RCSSA's treasurer John Diley said funding for the project might come from a variety of sources, including concession sales and revenue from advertisements placed at the fields.

"It's doable, we've just got to find a way to do it," he said.

The cost of the project is expected to increase between two and three percent for each year construction is put off.