STOP Intrusive Floodlights at Arbolitos Sports Park - Poway, CA

Arbolitos Sports Field was created in 1996 when it became necessary to create a detention basin to prevent flooding south of the current location of Abraxas High School. The Sports Field was created in the process of grading the detention basin in what was originally an open space nature preserve. To secure the cooperation of the local residents, The City of Poway promised that the the Fields would be for DAYTIME USE ONLY and that FLOODLIGHTS would never be installed there for nighttime lighting.

Sports boosters attempted change this agreement in 1998, at which time a REAL LIFE lighting test showed the ADVERSE IMPACT on residents around Arbolitos Park that would result from lighting the Arbolitos Sports Fields, (you could easily read by the light) leading to the proposal to light Arbolitos Park being dropped.

With recent changes to the Poway City Council membership, sports boosters are again trying to go back on previous understandings regarding Arbolitos Park. In response to the renewed request, the Poway City Council directed Study Reports for Noise, Lights and Traffic if FLOODLIGHTS were added to Arbolitos Park for nighttime use. The results of the studies were presented at a Neighborhood Meeting on July 7th. City Staff is updating their analyses and will present their recommendations at the Poway City Council Meeting on September 7th. Significant SHORTCOMINGS were identified for the TRAFFIC, NOISE, and LIGHT Studies during the presentation at the July 7th Neighborhood Meeting.

A MAJOR SHORTCOMING of the studies was that they relied heavily on computer modeling with results that do not match the real world experience of neighborhood residents. Other issues with the current direction being taken for Arbolitos Park include the incorrect assumption that IMPACT OF THE FLOODLIGHTS would be restricted to only a few residents on Crestwood Avenue, the potential loss in property values has not addressed or considered, and the promises made by Poway Youth Soccer to cover the cost of the lighting Arbolitos Field are not enforceable, leaving the expense to be paid for by the City of Poway. City Staff have stated that the City would DIVERT THE NECESSARY FUNDS from other operations budgets to cover any funding shortfall.

Further review of the study results have shown there are other shortcomings with the proposal to add floodlights to Arbolitos Sports Fields, including determination if installing floodlights would violate agreements with FEMA regarding the detention basin, whether the Arbolitos fields could stand up to the proposed additional use, and the effect that lights would have on local wildlife. The renewal of the proposal to light Arbolitos Park is a BREACH OF TRUST with Arbolitos residents by the City of Poway and highlights a CONCERN FOR ALL RESIDENTS near any of Poway’s neighborhood Parks. Lighting neighborhood parks will SERIOUSLY DAMAGE Poway resident’s QUALITY OF LIFE and threatens to turn Poway, “The City in the Country” into just .....a City.