State College Borough Council OKs Compromise Amendment for South Track Field Lights

State College Borough Council on Monday voted unanimously to approve an ordinance amendment that will bring a more permanent solution to disputes surrounding the use of lights at State College Area School District’s South Track Field.

Since 2019, when the borough approved the school district’s use of the 70-foot lights at field on the high school campus, neighboring residents on nearby Edgewood Circle have complained to some extent about nuisance light, but largely about the noise that accompanies the marching band’s practice on the field during evening hours. The band practices at the South Track two nights a week between August and October.

As a condition of the text amendment that allowed the use of the lights, an operating agreement governing their use was required to be renewed on an annual basis.

Council’s action on Monday mostly codified what had already been in place under the most recent agreement, which was approved in April after a number of contentious meetings.

The band will be limited to practicing two nights a week under the lights until 8:30 p.m. For all other SCASD uses, the lights may be used until 9 p.m. with a requirement that they be extinguished by 9:15 p.m. Non-SCASD groups are not permitted to use the lights.

It also removes the requirement for an operations agreement, eliminating the need for annual negotiations involving the borough, district and neighbors.

The end result will leave everyone at least a little unhappy.

SCASD submitted a request this spring to amend the ordinance to allow band practice until 8:45 p.m. two nights a week. The South Track Concerns Committee, meanwhile, wanted an 8 p.m. end time one night a week and for the agreement to end in three years, after which no events of any kind would be permitted after 8 p.m.

“…This is a compromise, so as I said before, nobody walks away entirely happy,” borough Planning Director Ed LeClear said. “There were objections from the school district and from the Edgewood Circle groups as far as the final language. I think at the end of the day it’s an attempt to compromise, to find a way to allow the school district to have flexibility with the use of their facility and also try to mitigate what I think is the biggest issue which is the nuisance aspects of the noise from the band practice.”

No comment was offered from either side during a public hearing prior to the vote on Monday, though both have presented their cases at meetings and work sessions throughout the past year. Both also gave presentations to the borough Planning Commission, which recommended approval of the ordinance amendment

The band had long practiced on the parking lot in front of the high school, but after the school was rebuilt that parking lot no longer existed. In 2019, SCASD spent more than $500,000 on the lights and barrier landscaping at the South Track, in part to provide the band a turf field on which to practice near the music wing of the new high school.

Fifty-one single-family homes and multiple apartment buildings are located within 1,000 feet of the South Track, and those who live closest said the noise from the marching band caused a serious disturbance. Some noted that the band’s previous practice spot and daytime use of the South Track had never been a problem.

“What we didn’t sign up for was to live under the bright lights, as some families now do. We also didn’t sign up to hear the marching band, 130 members strong, playing within a couple hundred feet of our homes,” Edgewood Circle resident Ted Reutzel told council in March. “We didn’t expect to hear every instruction provided to the band through our closed windows in our homes. We didn’t expect to feel the vibration of the bass reverberating through our homes. What we’re asking for are really the same things every borough resident has and takes for granted. We just want some protection for the conditions in which we live.”

The resident group questioned why the band couldn’t use one of the district’s other fields, including Memorial Field downtown and the recently constructed North Field on the high school campus, or another district property.

School district officials countered that those presented logistical challenges, requiring carrying or bussing of equipment, and that the fields are tightly scheduled for numerous district programs. Some also aren’t configured to accommodate the band.

“Frankly, the neighbors’ assertion that there are other opportunities is completely false,” school board Vice President Amy Bader said in March. “The fact that we were able to operate all of our programs previously was because some students were treated inequitably and unfairly. Now that we have a moderate and decent number of fields we are able to provide our students equitable experiences.”

While Monday’s action eliminates the need for an operations agreement, the ordinance can be amended at any time.