Review Upcoming After Judge Sides with Madison in Field Lights Lawsuit

A judge has ruled that the Chatham Board of Education must submit their plans to install lights on Cougar Field to the three municipalities – Chatham Township, Chatham Borough and Madison – that own land on part of the field.

Morris County Superior Court Judge W. Hunt Dumont said that the three towns should be able to review the proposal for lights at Cougar Field, but stopped short of saying that the lights could not be installed.

Chatham Board of Education President Steve Barna said, "The judge said right now that he’s not going to get involved at this moment. We would [need to] go back to each individual municipality and if some say no, then he'll deal with that at that point."

The hearing was originally scheduled in February but was later postponed to March 4 and then to March 18, then to April 1.

The case was filed by Madison residents calling themselves the Cougar Field Neighborhood Preservation Association, and the Borough of Madison on Aug. 6.
It names Chatham Township as the defendant and alleges that a lighting ordinance adopted at a Township Committee meeting on June 24, 2010 was established solely to help the School District of the Chathams and the Chatham High School Athletic Boosters place lights at Cougar Field.

The adopted ordinance stipulates that the height of lights at a sports facility cannot exceed 85 feet, the minimum distance from the pole to a property line must be 40 feet and a natural landscape buffer must be maintained to the greatest extent possible.

Joseph Mezzacca, an attorney for Madison, said that in 2008, it was Dumont who ruled a plan to light Cougar Field by the School District of the Chathams would need approval from the Madison Borough, Chatham Township and Chatham Borough planning boards.

The Cougar Field property spans all three municipalities, but the field itself sits solely on Chatham Township property.

Then, according to Mezzacca, the Chatham school district argued the project qualified as an educational improvement and that the state could grant a courtesy review.

"We litigated that last time, and Judge Dumont ruled it was not under the school facilities act," Mezzacca said.

Barna said, "Our position was that this is a different [issue from the case filed in] 2008. This project is solely in Chatham Township and did not require a full review. Right now the precedence is that you can do a courtesy application, which is different than submitting a full set of plans the way you would if you were a resident."

Barna worries that the precedence set by this decision could make future improvements to the field difficult. "If you’re doing a snack shack, does that require us to go to every municipality? Or is it only because it’s a lights issue that the judge is making us do this?"