From LMSD.com
The Lower Merion Board of School Directors is disappointed that the Township’s Zoning Hearing Board overruled the sound determinations of its own Zoning Officer [emphasis added] with regard to the District’s proposed installation of athletic field lighting at Lower Merion High School’s Arnold Field.
The proposed lighting provides the minimum necessary to ensure the safety of student athletes and the ability to use Arnold Field in the evenings. It would enable the District to move forward with plans to implement later school start times for high school students, to better align with adolescent sleep patterns and improve the mental and physical health of thousands of students each year. Without the lights, LM’s student athletes (approximately 50% of students) will not able to practice and compete safely throughout the fall sports season if later start times were to be implemented.
The School Board and legal counsel are in the process of reviewing the decision and considering next steps to support our community’s students.
The School Board’s announcement about the soundness of the Zoning Officer’s ruling does not address certain aspects of that ruling which the Zoning Hearing Board unamimously found to be in error – namely –
The proposed Light Towers depicted in the application exceed the maximum height for accessory structures and therefore are not permitted by right.
And –
The June 30, 2020 determination of the Zoning Hearing Officer was in error in that he did not conclude that the Light Towers were “accessory structures” and subject to the height limitation in the Zoning Code which wee exceeded by the proposed Light Towers.