I just want to take a moment to highlight one of the many issues with the proposed stadium lighting at Tatlock. In 2004, there was a commitment made by the City to the Tatlock community when both the Upper and Lower fields were turfed, and that agreement was to not add lights at the fields because of the burden the town knew turfing them would have on the surrounding community. This agreement was well documented in newspaper articles at the time, and the neighbors who lived here 20 years ago remember it well. A small group of neighbors met recently with Councilman Pawlowski, who pretty much told us that we cannot trust in that agreement with a prior council. But his next sentence was that this council would make a new agreement with the neighborhood. Now you can understand our trepidation to make a deal with this Council when they will not honor prior agreements made with the neighborhood. Then in the next breath, Councilman Pawlowski tells us that of course the agreement can always change. It would change by a proposed ordinance modification, and the Tatlock Community would have to be on its guard watching every council meeting and scouring the agendas for a proposal to come up. There would be no notice to the neighborhood other than what we investigate and research, sort of like how this original proposal is playing out. No one wants to live like that, not being able to trust in the word of their elected officials and worrying that any deal you strike will always be subject to change. This council’s view is “we’re not going to honor the old agreement, but we’ll make the Tatlock Community a new one, oh and by the way we can change it at any time we like.” Once the genie is out of the bottle, you cannot put it back in. There seems to be an overarching lack of respect for the Tatlock Community as the plans for the fields continuously change.
Additionally, we were told that only Summit teams would be using the field at night, however there is no way to ensure this is enforced. In just the hour we were meeting with Councilman Pawlowski at the track, there was a Seton Hall Prep lacrosse team practicing at the field, an unsupervised kid running his e-scooter all over the turf, and an out-of-town coach time-trialing runners. There are many weekends where full 11 on 11 men’s soccer games occur with residents from Madison and Plainfield. There are personal trainers from out of town that meet their clients at the field for sessions. And the Tatlock neighborhood deals with all that hustle and bustle, in addition to back-to-back team practices and games, during the daylight hours. But the overburdened Tatlock community should not have to see it, hear it, and be inconvenienced by it after dark as well. Our quality of life and enjoyment of our properties after dark is entitled to deference and respect. The Tatlock community already shoulders way more than its fair share for the sports community.