Neighbors Raise Concerns over Cost and Crime at Meeting on Tanner's Lake Lighting Project

At a neighborhood meeting Wednesday on the at , nearby residents said they were more concerned about the cost of the project and who it would attract than the lighting itself.

Resident Jerry Belisle questioned why the city can afford to spend approximately $294,000 on the lights, but can’t afford to spend about $24,000 to watch Tanner’s Lake Beach during the summer.

“Lighted ball fields are a luxury—let’s face it—and I don’t know how much of that we really need,” Belisle said at the Aug. 30 meeting. He’d rather see the money go toward more picnic shelters and grills at the park, as its existing ones are heavily used, he said, and toward funding lifeguards.

The that the additional lighted field is needed to allow more time for baseball games and practices, as well as soccer and football games and practices in the fall, said City Engineer Brian Bachmeier.

Resident Irene Kube questioned whether having more people in the park at night would lead to more vandalism and criminal activity.

baseball coach Curt Russell said because the night games will be Oakdale Athletic Association youth sports games, the crowd they’ll attract is parents and young teens. This type of a group is more likely to deter crime than encourage it, he said.

Part of the project includes field improvements, including installing a grass infield.

Russell said his sophomore baseball players are the only ones in the conference who currently play on a dirt infield.

“We’re kind of the laughingstock of the conference,” he said. “We are at least 20 years behind the times when it comes to baseball fields in this city.”

In 2008, when Tartan’s field was under construction, the team had to play all away games for the season, because they had nowhere else to go, Russell said. He said he thinks the field improvements will help Oakdale and Tartan High School retain talented athletes.

Because installing the lights will require an amendment to the city’s ordinance that limits the height of lighting, the city is required to hold a public hearing on the issue, Bachmeier said. The public hearing is scheduled to take place at the Oakdale Planning Commission meeting Sept. 8, and then the Oakdale City Council is scheduled to take up the issue at its Sept. 13 meeting, Bachmeier said.

The city staff is planning to have the project completed in time that the lights can be used in 2012, he said.