OAK PARK : New Playing Fields Won’t Have Lights

A 10-acre neighborhood park to be developed in northeast Oak Park will include the community’s second public playing fields, but the fields will not be lit because area residents said lighting would change their quiet lifestyle.

Although the Rancho Simi Recreation & Park District approved plans Thursday night allowing developers to wire in places for lights on Deerhill Park’s baseball diamond and soccer field, posts and lights will not be built immediately.

The Ventura County Planning Commission is expected to give final approval to the plans within two months. The three other existing parks do not include playing fields but two parks now in the planning stages will include such space, said district planner Dmitri Hunt.

Residents who live south and west of the park opposed field lights because the glare, noise and traffic after dark would disturb their evenings and weekends.

Many of the more than 50 residents at Thursday’s meeting said they bought their homes assuming only a small neighborhood park would border their property.

“The homes are only a stone’s throw from the fields,” said Judy Hunt, who opposed the lighting.

But without lit fields, several other Oak Park residents argued, teams will not be able to practice after dark and several parents who commute to Los Angeles to work will not be able to volunteer their time for coaching.

Thomas Pichotta, president of the Agoura Pony Baseball League, said his association accepts more than 1,000 children, including Oak Park residents, but does not have enough fields to schedule games for all the teams.

“Not to have lights is very shortsighted,” Pichotta said. “We need fields.”