In the past couple weeks there have been a number of articles and letters to the editor about the Presque Isle Zoning Board’s refusal to allow a reconsideration of Aroostook Football’s request to build a football field on the land donated to them by the Cole family. As an upcoming senior and co-captain of our area team, I believe the time has come for me to speak on the matter.
Since this fall is my last season on the program I myself would not have benefited from the field. However, I see great disappointment in the eyes of the underclassman and members of the newly formed middle school program.
Why, you might ask, is this so important? We play our games currently at Sincock Field in Caribou. The field is intended for use as a baseball field. Therefore we have no goalposts, scoreboard or permanent home. The field has been a good home, but we are rapidly outgrowing it.
Coach Dick Engels has moved to start a middle school program and preliminary results show that more than 75 may play. Therefore, we need a permanent home and the sooner the better. The town of Madawaska is building its team a field. Houlton’s team is looking for a field. If Presque Isle doesn’t move quickly it will be left at a competitive disadvantage.
Why, you might ask, can’t these kids just play another sport? There is soccer and cross country in the fall. The truth is that most of the kids on my team play only one sport: football. I myself play baseball and basketball for Ashland High School, but I am the exception to the rule. It’s not unusual for a 300-pound kid to show up for the first day of practice and walk off the field on November 30 pounds lighter and in a lot better cardiovascular shape. What would happen to that same kid walking into soccer or cross country practice? The kid would be cut from the team. With no sport to play, and nothing to occupy his time, that kid will likely either sit at home and play video games and gain another 30 pounds, or worse, become involved in drugs.
Well, the field would be bright and noisy, you might say. Not so. The lights intended for the field were reviewed by an engineer, and 200 feet behind the lights the amount of light shown is zero. A device to measure sound was borrowed by the program. Our coach took the time to measure the sound at two different locations. First he measured the noise at a Presque Isle High Baseball/Softball game. Then he measured the noise at the proposed location of the field north on Highway 1. The noise at the proposed site was significantly higher than the baseball/softball games. Therefore, the noise level and lighting level would increase little if any for the neighbors of the proposed site. In addition, we have never had a complaint in our five years at Sincock Field.
Was this not brought up at the zoning board of appeals meeting? To that you can thank Mr. Larry Perry, Mr. Dave Perry and Mr. Zach Powers. When our coach was notified of the first Zoning Board meeting, he was told it would be a formality and to just show up. Thanks to those three members of the Zoning Board our “formality” was not to be. So we appealed.
Our coaches worked long hours to procure evidence that the field would not cause any nuisance to the neighbors. Our players were asked to come and support us at City Hall. I, myself and Eagle Scout and leader in our Boy Scout Troup, brought a younger Scout to the meeting to fulfill a requirement and show him democracy in action. I was sorely disappointed. The members of the board refused to even hear information. You, having read this letter to the editor, are more knowledgeable and better informed to make a decision than these three men were.
Sadly, these men are not elected by the members of the community. They are appointed. Therefore I urge you to call the members of your Town Council and urge them to appoint more fair-minded board members and to enact more reasonable zoning laws. If they do not act, then the time has come. We need to vote them out of office. Presque Isle deserves better.
Presque Isle should not, and will not be left in the past, if and only if, you take action.
Ashland
