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9 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, October 7, 2009 Mayor disappointed over Catholic board's light plan Continued from page 8 lic groups, none of which are lit. None of the privately-owned fields, such as those at Appleby College, have lights, Lunardo said. The Town's current operating procedure is that lighted fields are lit from dusk to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Most of the natural fields are lit May 1 to Sept. 30. The lone artificial field is lit from March 1 to Nov. 30. The Town has reciprocal agreements with the two school boards, Lunardo said. The Town handles the booking and collection of fees for field rentals at schools, with the money owed to the school boards and to the Town divvied at the end of the year. Lunardo confirmed the school board does make money from renting their fields to community groups. Lunardo also provided an overview of the responses e-mailed, to date, to the Town on the field light issues. "The vast majority have been concerns about the lights, but there have also been some that support the lights," he said. Concerns included a variety of topics, such as light pollution, increased traffic, excessive noise, among others. Those in favour of the field lights said more facilities are needed and said it would benefit members of the community, especially children, by giving them more places to play. Thursday's meeting also featured a presentation by MMM Group, which installs lighted sports fields. A landscape architect and project engineer presented a slideshow describing the different types of lighting, what can be done to prevent spillage, such as shields and coloured lights, and other technical aspects. They said a well-designed field should have no light spillage past the school's property line, much to the disbelief from many in the audience. "If it is a good design, there shouldn't be any spillage," said Haven Law, project engineer with MMM Group. "You will still be able to physically see the lights, however." Following the presentations, the audience was divided into groups to brainstorm and fill out questionnaires. Audience questions were asked throughout the meeting. Many of the inquiries required information from HCDSB staff, which was not present. Some of the unan- swered questions were why the school board wanted to install the lights; what is the proposed spectator capacity planned for the two school sites and if other schools, in particular Holy Trinity Secondary School, are slated for lights next. Lunardo said lighting in existing sports fields is not a part of the Town's Official Plan: Livable Oakville. To address a shortage of fields, for soccer in particular, he said the Town is converting less-commonly used baseball fields into soccer fields, as well as building fields in new developments. He said there are also long-terms plans to build several lighted fields in the north, where lights will not have such a substantial impact on neighbourhoods, as housing can be devel- oped taking the lights into account. Mayor Rob Burton attended a portion of the meeting. He told the Oakville Beaver he is disappointed the Catholic school board wants to install field lights at schools in existing neighbourhoods. "I believe in the Golden Rule and the way I remember it is `Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,' and as far as I can tell in my meetings with the Catholic school board, they have no regard whatsoever for their neighbours," he said. For more information on the Town's lighting study, visit www.oakville.ca/lighting.htm. Written comments and questions can be submitted to lighting@oakville.ca or by fax to 905338-4254. OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE Inter-Municipal Advisory Committee on Sustainability Purpose: Members Needed: Meetings: Contact: To apply: ca www.halton. a Friday, October 30, 2009 at 4:30 p.m. 071109 1151 Bronte Road, Oakville, Ontario L6M 3L1