Facing some strong community opposition and unanswered questions about financing, the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors postponed action - until July 21- on a proposal to install lighting for night games on three school athletic fields.

After listening to arguments for and against the lighting plan, the supervisors decided they wanted more information on the terms on the deal and also want to visit similar lighted fields in nearby counties to assess the potential for light pollution and glare that might spoil Rappahannock’s famous dark skies.

The board voted unanimously Monday to table the proposal for two weeks to permit further study, and agreed to reconsider it at a special meeting on Monday, July 21, at 7 p.m.

The plan proposed by the Rappahannock County School Sports Association envisions erecting lighting towers for night football and soccer games at Rappahannock County High School, and for baseball and softball games at the fields behind Rappahannock County Elementary School. RCSSA’s estimate of the costs of the lighting, if financed on a county-backed lease-purchase agreement of 10 years, is more than $511,000.

The supervisors took up the controversial lighting proposal before a standing-room-only crowd in the courthouse Monday afternoon. Nearly every seat was filled and many stood at the back of the court room, with a strong turnout from RCSSA’s sports boosters mixed in with many opponents of the sports-lights plan.

Though there was no formal public hearing on the plan, both the boosters and the opponents took advantage of the board’s regular public-comment period to make their cases for and against the proposal. Of the 19 persons who spoke, eight spoke in favor of the lights, nine spoke against, one person spoke for and against the lights and one did not take any side.

Officers of the sports-booster organization offered brief arguments for its plan. Rich Hogan, RCSSA president, who also teaches and coaches at the high school, said the Musco Lighting system being proposed "is the best system available….it is widely used in dark-sky counties in the county" because it limits glare and light spillage. John Diley, treasurer of the group, said he has talked to officials in communities where the Musco system is used, who said the system meets tight limits on light pollution and does not spoil dark skies.

But the plan produced plenty of skepticism and opposition from numerous speakers.

Monira Rifaat, who said she lives less than a mile from the high school, said she is concerned about "the violation of our way of life here in Rappahannock County" and the risk that the county taxpayers will wind up paying for the system if the RCSSA fails to fulfill its promise to raise the annual payments entirely from donations.

"I do not want to see glare from the lights," at night games, Rifaat said. "I also am not clear how this association is going to raise $40,000 to $50,000 a year. If they don’t, who pays? As a taxpayer, I don’t want to pay for it. We were told the football program would be self-sustaining, and it is not." She also wondered "why are we considering more expense" in electric costs at the schools when the schools budget is already stretched thin.

Paul Farmer, who lives in Piedmont District, said that even if the sports lights are down-shielded, "these brilliant lights light up the field and it is reflected up into the sky." He suggested it seems contradictory for Rappahannock County to be fighting Dominion Virginia Power’s plan for a new high-voltage transmission line through the county and at the same time planning to boost its own electric-power use by installing sports lights at the schools. "It plays right into Dominion’s hands," by increasing demand for power, which is the utility’s justification for building the transmission line.

Bill Gadino, whose Gadino Vineyards and winery is immediately adjacent to the baseball/softball fields at the elementary school, said he is "not totally against" the lighting plan, but has many concerns, including traffic that may block access to his property and the possibility that use of the lights will "escalate" with demands from Little Leagues or adult leagues or civic groups to use the lighted fields.

Gadino said he did not oppose lighting the football field, but objects to lights at the baseball and softball fields, and urged the board to restrict use of the lights to Rappahannock County school events.

Ronald Maxwell of Flint Hill said the supporters of the plan are well-intentioned, but warned of "the law of unintended consequences" in trying to do something good for the school children. "Artificially lighting the sky of Rappahannock County is a kind of collateral damage" from a well-meaning proposal, he said. "Why rush to a life-changing decision?" he asked, urging the board to postpone any decision until September, after additional study and a full public hearing.

Tom Junk of Sperryville, who heads the Concerned Taxpayers of Rappahannock, warned that the costs of the plan may fall on the county taxpayer, even though the association promises to privately raise enough to make the annual $51,000 payments. "Rappahannock taxpayers are going to pay for this, no matter what," Junk said. He also argued that there will be a "social cost" of night games, including the need for police security at games and the risk of more late-night driving by teenagers and parents.

Monica Worth, president of the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection, said "we want to support our schools," but if a similar lighting plan were proposed by commercial interests, "we would have a lot of questions." She urged limits on the number of events at the lighted fields and raised doubts that in the current troubled economy that RCSSA could raise enough in donations to pay the annual costs of the lease for 10 years.

Supporters argued that the lighting plan would benefit Rappahannock sports programs and provide better opportunities for school athletes.

After the public comments, in their own discussion of the issue, some supervisors expressed desire to visit other installations of Musco Lighting systems to see their effect on neighbors and dark skies and raised other questions that needed to be answered before deciding on the proposal.

"I think it would be good if we go see some of the lights," Supervisor Bryant Lee of Hampton District said. "We need to make sure what we are getting" in the proposal, he said. Ron Frazier of Jackson District said "I have mixed emotions" about the proposal and agreed it would be good to study it further and hold another meeting to decide the issue.

Roger Welch expressed doubt that RCSSA could raise as much as $51,000 a year to make the payments with donated money. He said he was president of the sports-booster group some years ago "and the best year we ever had in raising funds" was one that raised $9,000. "To take on a challenge of $50,000 a year–I cringe to think about it," Welch said. "I wish it wasn’t this lease deal….I wish you already had the funds," he added.

Hogan of RCSSA said the group has an anonymous private donor to provide a large portion of the funds. "I have a cashier’s check in my pocket for $100,000," Hogan told the supervisors–to which Welch responded that he would be more comfortable if the $100,000 was in the bank rather than Hogan’s pocket.

Hogan said the group would not be standing before the supervisors now if it were not confident it could raise the funds needed. "I hate to see this division come between the people in the county who have children in the school, and those who do not," he commented.

Edward Wayland of Piedmont District said he wanted to "see more details" about the financing and the lease terms before deciding. County Administrator John McCarthy said Commonwealth’s Attorney Peter Luke had spent an hour-and-a-half Monday on the phone with Musco’s attorney working out details of the lease-purchase, and the board would be provided those details.

McCarthy disclosed Monday that the terms of the proposed deal have been altered from what RCSSA originally disclosed, which called for annual payments of $51,132 for 10 years if the county signs the agreement.

Because the anonymous donor has provided a $100,000 payment up-front, McCarthy said, the amount to be financed is decreased accordingly, resulting in annual payments of about $38,000 over 10 years, rather than the $51,132 originally estimated.

The county administrator also said that Musco’s proposed lease would permit the county to stop making annual payments during the 10-year-term if RCSSA defaulted on its promise to raise the money. The revised deal would amount to a series of ten one-year leases that could be terminated during the 10-year period, according to McCarthy–possibly giving the county a way out of the deal if RCSSA fails to raise the money in private donations.

The county and Musco are still negotiating the final terms of the lease-purchase agreement, which remains something of a "moving target," McCarthy said Tuesday. The county has two more weeks to work out the terms of what happens "if and when we cancel the agreement, after, for example, five years of leases," McCarthy said. The degree of risk that the county might take on in signing the lease can’t be certain until the terms are finalized.

James P. Gannon is editor of rappvoice.com