Saratoga Springs school board decides tonight on West Side lights

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Coleman

The city school district Board of Education will decide tonight whether installing four lighting towers at the West Side Recreation Field will pose any problem for the local environment.

The school board is expected to declare that the lights, which will be paid for and used by the Saratoga National Little League, will do no harm, as outlined in the State Environmental Quality Review Act.

Michael Piccirillo, superintendent of the city school district, said a lengthy, year-long review was conducted by the district and its property administration committee on the field lighting plan. “There is no opposition at this point,” he said Wednesday.

The school district is required to review the installation proposal under SEQRA regulations and make a declaration of impact. “We wanted to make sure they met all requirements,” Piccirillo said.

The city school district owns the West Side Recreation Field at the corner of Division and Walnut streets.

He said interested members of the public can comment on the proposal at tonight’s Board of Education meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Meade Auditorium at Saratoga Springs High School on West Avenue.

Derrick Legall, president of the Saratoga National Little League, said planning for the lighted Little League field has been going on for well over a year. The field lighting project will cost an estimated $100,000, he said, money that the league is raising.

“It’s good for kids to play under the lights and we can get more games in,” Legall said. He said the lights will allow the league to host tournaments.

The Saratoga National Little League has been working with the Musco Sports Lighting company. Musco has created lighting systems at fields across the country and also lighting systems for large stadiums and other sports facilities.

Legall said the lighting system will be similar to one installed at the Geyser Road recreation field in recent years.

“The next step is to raise the additional funds we need and have the lights up by spring,” he said. “The school district has been very supportive.”

The field lights are being erected in memory of Christopher Chubb, the son of Clayton Chubb and the late Barbara Chubb. Christopher Chubb died in 2007. He played Little League and later was a coach.

Clayton Chubb, Christopher’s father, is a longtime Little League coach who has been involved in city athletics since the late 1950s. He was inducted into the Saratoga Springs High School Blue Streaks Hall of Fame “for the countless time and energy he has devoted to athletic programs in Saratoga Springs, from his years playing football, basketball and baseball at Saratoga Springs High School through decades of service as a coach, umpire, and a leader in booster clubs for several high school sports.”

People interested in donating to the lighting project can make a contribution to the Christopher Chubb Light Fund at any branch office of the Adirondack Trust Co.