To the editor:
As a pediatrician here in Presque Isle for the past ten years, I obviously take interest in programs designed to promote the physical, social and emotional well-being of our children in the County. As a pediatrician, I see too many kids struggling with obesity these days and I am always looking for programs in the community that promote healthy lifestyle and exercise for children. With that in mind, I attended the June 3rd hearing for Aroostook Football’s field development plan. I was shocked and appalled by what I witnessed. The Chairman of the Zoning Board relied on technicalities and stubbornness to prevent the football program’s legal representative from presenting data that would demonstrate that the Board’s concerns about the project were unfounded. The meeting was over in less than 15 minutes without any information whatsoever being introduced or heard.
I was curious to know what information the people from Aroostook Football had tried to present and contacted them. I was provided with the very booklet they had attempted to introduce at the “hearing”. As I reviewed it, I became angry and offended. In that booklet, I found clearly laid out compelling arguments in favor of the field complex being built. I got to see engineering reports and articles showing how the proposed lighting would eliminate any “glare or spill-over” and keep the neighbors nearby from being bothered by the lights when they were to be used. I reviewed sound meter data that demonstrated that the neighbors living 50 feet from Highway One regularly experience significantly more road noise than the proposed football fields would generate from over 200 feet away. I saw pictures of trees that provided a buffer between the neighbors and the proposed field. I reviewed letters from other neighbors in the area in support of the project. I saw letters from neighbors where the football program has played for the last five years stating that there have never been problems with noise, lights, or trespassing. I saw permits from both the Maine DEP and DOT authorizing the project to go forward with the plans as submitted.
My anger was directed at the Zoning Board members who refused to take any of this information into account. It was clear to me that they had made up their minds before ever coming to the hearing and this left me wondering why they had even bothered to schedule the meeting in the first place.
So I decided to try to find out what had happened. The best “explanation” I could get from anyone in authority (and answers to my questions were pretty vague and confusing) was that Aroostook Football had “changed the scope of their project” and that these changes were the source of the problems leading to disapproval. I think I was also told that they should have presented all the new information at their original hearing on May 13.
Now, as a pediatrician and not a lawyer, I don’t know about such technicalities. What I do know now is that the “changes in scope” were the addition of a second field (when the Maine National Guard offered to do a lot of earthwork for the project and reduce the cost to Aroostook Football) and the addition of a storage building to hold equipment. I still cannot figure out what sort of noise or lighting problems a simple building that holds equipment is going to cause.
I was intrigued by the notion that a second field might cause more light and noise problems, but when I investigated, I learned that a second field would not increase the numbers of kids on the site at any given time. It would have actually spread them out and moved a number of them even farther from the neighbors. And the modern, hi-tech lighting planned for the field would not have done anything to the neighbors. The Zoning Board could have learned all this if they had had an open mind and were willing to listen in the best interests of our children.
As I think about what I’ve learned in this matter after a bit of research, I am both indignant and sad. If this matter were about a large conglomerate trying to come into our town and destroy local businesses, I could understand and even applaud what I saw as the Board protecting us. But this is just a little non-profit organization trying to create something positive and healthy for my patients and our kids.
I have seen the positive impact Aroostook Football has had over the past few years first hand. I have seen some of my patients who were looking for a place to fit in as adolescents find football and become responsible, polite, community-minded young adults. I find myself angry that the Zoning Board and its advisors haven’t tried to work with the people from Aroostook Football and help them make this project a reality. Instead, what I witnessed was a “kangaroo court” in which three individuals who surely did not represent the best interests of our communities or children hid behind some sort of technicalities and narrow-mindedly shot down something positive without even a hearing on the facts … sadly, facts that clearly demonstrate that all of the concerns raised were just non-issues if they had bothered to look at them.
All of us should be outraged and let our city leaders know as much.
Presque Isle
