From Marylou
No, I like football and enjoy watching it with my son and husband (to Non-Woodstocker). My father went through school on a football scholarship — he played for West Point. He also coached football so much of my youth was spent on a football field. Happily, I add.
The area the new Academy field was built upon is a poor location for the use. So is the area of the original Bentley Fields. As far as maintenance costs, the jury is out on the new field. I know they’ve had to spend more and do more to mitigate the problems stemming from a section that is mostly wetland. In addition, there is limited access with no separate ingress and egress. There is no running water or bathrooms. There is inadequate parking and what parking exists — is far away from the fields making it tough for older people.
Again, I write — here is what I object to about football. It is the ONLY sport played in which a loud PA system is brought in to blast a field and as off-shed, a quiet residential neighborhood. They play horrible (so called) music very loud before games for some unknown reason . . ? How would you like to spend a golden fall day . . Would you want to live up wind to this?
High-schoolers, their coaches, their teachers and parents want to watch a local football game — not everyone in town does as the Academy was so fond of stating over and over again during the application process. Now, we can expect that the Academy along with PZC’s blessing will soon install the tallest and brightest stadium lights they can find so we have that to anticipate. Jolly. Would you want to live here? We like hearing the natural noise made by all teams and ALL sports. The sounds of shots going off, followed by cheering for track runners, the whack of baseballs hitting bats with subsequent cheers. Neither we, nor most people want to listen to loud PA’s or blink out from under blaring stadium lights.
But somehow football is special, isn’t it. Not properly enjoyed unless you have loud PA’s and Friday night lights. New schools are now built far outside of neighborhoods and towns, maybe because no one wants to live next to that. Progressive schools within residential and commercial neighborhoods install newly designed LED lighting that has little off-shed and protects dark skies initiatives. They also monitor the volume of PA’s. But not Woodstock! Oh no, no! PZC ushered a whip smart engineer out of their meeting when he tried to explain the benefits of installing this type of lighting. And why is that, you may wonder.
Because the Academy wants to run down property values while running off residents. They will only gain by purchasing homes cheap for dorms, etc. PZC wants to govern the Hill so that cute, quaint shops, restaurants and B and B’s populate the historic district. It’s all about the Academy with some speculation on $ from tourism. It all makes sense. It all sounds pretty ducky unless you happen to live here and have invested significant amounts of hard earned money in your property.
For all those regular Cafe readers, I apologize for the repetition of the whine. I just thought Non-Woodstock might have missed another side of the story due to football fervor. Go Centaurs!
MaryLou – Fair enough, I appreciate the clarifications and stand at least partially corrected, (lol). Your concerns regarding sound and lighting in your neighborhood are certainly reasonable, but I stop short on the grand WA conspiracy to drive down home values idea! With the new field in place, but no lighting at this pont, perhaps a reasonable compromise can be reached regarding music and sound. As much as I love the atmosphere of a Saturday afternoon football game, or a Friday night one for that matter. I can fully appreciate that the pregame music (we agree on it’s quality!, but then our parents thought the same thing!) can and should be moderated so that they are not annoying neighbors. I think though that in the end, the school is there (has been for a looonngg time), the field is there and neither is going away so accomodation by both sides seems the only recourse. Maybe the volume goes down, maybe some kind of environmentally friendly sound barrier can be explored, whatever the possible solutions they can only come about if both the school and the neighborhood are committed to each others concerns, sounds like a little teamwork is the order of the day!
I invite all interested parties to come see a Football game and listen to the “PA” system. It’s a joke. The Academy goes too far in trying to satisfy the neighborhood whiners. You can barely hear the announcements. Suck it up Marylou, it’s a couple hours a week maybe 6 times a year! C’mon. There are millions of people in the world that live near schools that don’t complain. I used to and I enjoyed the activity and the well manicured backdrop
It’s much like living next to an airport and complaining about overhead flights and noise. That’s life. There are alternatives.
I went to the inaugural game at the new football field. The loadspeaker was very loud and as I listened I wondered if it could be heard in Woodstock Valley. I also thought about Marylou and Steve.
A few responses — you knew they’d come. Frank, I appreciate that, according to you, the Academy tries hard to adjust the volume on the PA. At the public hearing one of many citizens’ concerns on this development was placed on the topography of the site. The athletic complex is essentially at the bottom of a bowl so sound is sent up and out to surrounding neighborhoods effectively. This means that the PA on the field is louder to us than it is to fans at the field.
While I enjoy the game of football, I detest the football culture that is pervasive. If Football is the ONLY sport both lit up and amplified, it sends a clear message to students that football is more important than any other sport. This is not a message that most good private schools want to give for good reason. They seek to elevate themselves above the fray so football is toned down rather than featured.
If we could count on 6 events a year, that would be great but we can’t. Naturally, the Academy has NO limit on the number of events they can run at the field BUT it also has approval to rent the facility out to any one at any time. With no noise ordinance and with what is sure to come . . tall stadium lights — we may see Cafe writer Ron’s wish that ALL practices be both lit and amplified. This means, for neighbors, every night = Loud PA and Lots of wattage. And Nn-wdstker thinks there is no conspiracy. Hmm.
Non-wdstker, The Academy is about 200 hundred years old, the village it resides in is about 400 years old, the native american village before that was several millennia old before decimated. Hard for the Academy to play the history card.
This is a tedious saga with numerous thorny tentacles. Trust me, trying to negotiate with the Academy is coming up against a vast brick wall of stony arrogance and certain entitlement. The Academy simply doesn’t negotiate. I write tragic because I see the school suffer needlessly from lack of authentic public relations within the community – most particularly within their own neighborhood. I mean true public relations in that they are transparent in plans and financials, they tell the truth while demonstrating they are willing to see their role as collaborator with and to other groups for the good planning of Woodstock’s future. This doesn’t happen. All my neighbors are much smarter than me. They know it will never change so they wonder why I keep beating my head against this brick wall.
I agree 100% that the field location is terrible. It shows lack of planning on the part of Woodstock Academy. Forcing student athletes to cart all their belongings every day to fields built in a swamp is ridiculous. Don’t worry about lights because that will never happen in this town. May as well shut the football program down now because it will never get the support it needs from the school. Seems like everything is going down hill at WA and you can blame the shoddy administration for that. Just ask parents who had kids go through there in the last 8-10 years. You won’t find many who have good things to say.
When I was in HS, the marching band practiced 2 nights a week in addition to playing at the football games. I’m sure we were louder than the PA system during practice and at games.
People living near WA should expect the same sort of traffic and noise that occurs at thousands of high schools across the country. I understand their concerns, but if you live next to a high school, there will be impacts. It’s no different than living next to a farm, or building a nice house next to a commercially zoned parcel.
Woodstock Academy seems to build everything half baked….there is no parking and not even a locker room/showers! Come on, do it right! I am glad to see they purchased a wood floor for the field house. I have to say lights would be great for Bentley Stadium, but have them off by 11pm at the latest.
Woodstock Academy needs to have better communication with the citizens of Woodstock Hill. I will say it again, there needs to sidewalks put in from the athletic complex to Woodstock Academy on Route 169. Sooner or later they are going to be calling it dead students curve. Multiple times in the late afternoon early evening students are walking in the middle of Route 169 heading up Woodstock Hill, usually on the wrong side of the road. I know I mentioned this before, it can be done, and Woodstock Academy can help the town be a safer place to live.
JK,
Please note. It is one thing when one buys a house next to a lighted high school football field. It is another when a couple buys a property without field or even knowledge there ever could be one. We were honestly told that the land behind us was wetland so not buildable.
Please also note. We have a problem with PA systems and conventional stadium lighting. I love marching bands and so does Steve. Do they need to be amplified? We love kids and we love athletics. Why can’t sports be played and enjoyed without PA’s and Lighting?
wdstker, it occurred to me often this past football season that the pressure placed on the football team must be crushing. To add Lighting on to their spotlighted defeat is focused added pressure. Is this really appropriate for young men age 14 – 17?
I agree that the side walk issue should be priority one. Out of public safety it should be installed immediately. The school wanted to put a trail behind the houses to the field but one absentee neighbor put a stop to that.
I don’t understand what is wrong with the common in front of the school??
We used to play sports there all the time.
It is sad that a few “sour grapes” neighbors move close to a school then complain about kids, noise etc.
We used to laugh at the grumpy old lady next to the school who would pull out and blow her horn in her car for no aparant reason it seems we still have lots
of grumpy old people next to the school!
Db
Db, Sorry, but you are not correct. There is no one neighbor who prevented a safe student walkway from school to fields. You have this wrong. The Hill residents I know champion student safety and success — they do this consistently and very well. The situation is bad and has gone on far longer and is more complex than either you or JK care to delve in to before firing off comments.
It’s too easy, also cheap, to blame the snobs on the Hill. The Academy is in trouble. Blaming any one group in town isn’t going to help. You are better than that. Unknown solutions to complex problems require many minds. Many, many minds working together.
Marylou – from your post “Ron’s wish that ALL practices be both lit and amplified” you have this wrong. I did not want or think that amplified noise with a practice is needed. What I explained is that once the time changes in the fall – football and Soccer teams that are in the state tournament are put at a disadvantage because of the sun going down just after 4 pm. This shortens the practice sessions to about 1 hour and that is not adequate to maintain the bodies of these young student athletes.
I live down hill from the fields and I get the noise from the Putnam Rod & Gun, and fairgrounds. So noise from the Bentley complex would be small and limited compared to the other noise sources. Example Rod & Gun club do start shooting early on Saturday and Sunday mornings year round – not just 6 Saturday’s/Friday nights a year…
D,
In a perfect world the athletic fields would be right next to the school but not in this case. The common in front of WA would have to be completely reworked and wouldn’t work for most sports. The uneven surface is dangerous and more suited for parking cars! Also there would be too many broken windows from errant Lacrosse shots, home runs hot with aluminum bats, etc. The poor surface and lack of space, combined with the potential disaster that Stonebridge was, begged for new fields. Now we have proper fields where Lacrosse, Football, Soccer, Field Hockey, Softball, and Baseball can co-exist. Just like everywhere else in the world. Talking about PA systems, way back when, when BC was going down to Clemson to play in Deaf Valley, we practiced with the PA system at full tilt with music to prepare for the loud reception we would have to endure. I know the students enjoyed it…probably not the neighbors. Sidewalks, and improved lighting in front of WA should be looked at.
Ron, thanks. I apologize for the misrep made. We hear both the fair and the rod and gun clearly. Last fair was quieter which was really nice.
Welcome to Bentley Stadium! Home of Centaur Nation! Does Woodstock Academy even plan on putting bathrooms/showers at Bentley Stadium? I did read that there is still some minor work to be done this spring. Does anyone know what work still needs to be done at the stadium? What happens when they host a state track meet or baseball playoff game? Will players and fans have to hold it until they get home? I checked out the facility last time I was in Woodstock, and it looks good, but there is also no stands for visitors on the turf field. Seems like Bentley stadium could only hold a couple thousand at best. I wonder if attendance at sporting events will increase for a little bit now that the basketball team won.
Ron:
Sorry to hear that about the noise from the rod and gun club, there is supposed to be no outdoor shooting on Sunday mornings, indoor range only.
Is this a regular occurrence on Sunday mornings?
Db
Woodstocker, there are porta-potties at Bentley, so it’s not a question of when they go but how.
Also, there are no stands on the turf field on purpose. You either sit on the walls or bring a lawn chair. Either way brings a more comfortable sitting situation than typical bleachers… more space for people to move around within rows, you’re higher up than the person in front of you, etc.
I also agree that they seem to do things half-baked, but I also believe that they do things well when they have the time and resources to do so.
Yes, WA should communicate with the public more often! Why doesn’t some administrator post their comments here? Think of Kevin and Rich. Even if it’s simply stating raw facts and data without getting into debates. I find it hard to believe that none of them are aware of this blog if that’s the case. Or they think they have something to hide and too much of the truth will get them into trouble, just like Kevin’s observations of Joe Campbell with the budget presentation.
I thought they had a Public Relations person. ‘Ya know, one of those people whose title always changed. They should be holding public forums, participating on blogs (maybe even write one for WA), that kind of wonderful stuff. But I can only imagine being someone from WA and coming here — getting backed into a corner and undergoing ruthless interrogation. LOL I envision a LibDem vs. Newcomer type of conversation.
In conclusion: If WA isn’t talking, perhaps they have stuff to hide. It would be in their best interest to address the public more often and in more ways — if they don’t have anything to hide.
I really don’t think there is anything to ‘hide’. Maybe they could do a better job reaching out to the local (hilltop) concerns. My feeling though is that like virtually every other school there just basically good folks doing thier jobs the best they can. Anyone who goes on campus and observes, can see that the administration truly does put the kids first and has thier best interests at heart. I suspect even some teachers (very few) feel that the school goes too far in putting the kids first, and that in fact may be a ‘good’ problem. The announcers on the CIAC game coverage noted that the ‘average’ GPA of the Academy basketball team was 3.82 !!!! That is phenomenal, and coupled with the incredible turnout of support during the ‘run to the sun’ indicates more than the snipes on a local blog, just how well the Academy really is doing. There is always room for improvement, but I’ve said it before, we are VERY fortunate to have the Academy here in the quiet corner. My preferred approach is to offer support and encouragement first, recognize the positives first, it is so damn easy to be a critic!
I agree, non-Woodstocker. I’ve observed that the jocks tend to be in advanced classes and be on honor roll, etc. They also seem to be the happiest people in the school and maximizing their potential within it.
Db, shooting is not a regular Sunday morning activity. Seems random, sometimes more frequent than other times. I didn’t know they weren’t suppose to do this on Sunday morning.
Non-woodstocker, I will write this again for the umteenth time that my beef isn’t with any other aspect of the Academy but the leadership in setting goals, their development priorities (a sewer line was badly needed for 20 years but they built the football field first), honest communication, transparency of plan and financials. I agree with you that the Academy is a very good school, one we are lucky to have in the region and one that performs well on all levels. I know we would like to support the school but after what we’ve been through here with dishonesty, the utter lack of care about the neighborhood — it’s hard. I agree with you that it is easy to be a critic. I always hope that the voices that pipe up on this blog site are read and digested. On this thread, we’ve just read several people from different parts of town talk about noise from the Fair and/or the Rod and Gun Club. The folks on Bradford County road are tired of the semi-tractor trailers roaring through their village tearing up the road and making their life noisy and dangerous.Could there be a solution to this?
I always hope that Woodstock’s Planning and Zoning commission is reading this stuff. I hope they develop a more open and inclusive style of really listening and examining the many issues that are problems in various parts of town. I know they work very hard and are volunteers and I appreciate that work a lot but I guess I hope to see changes come out of expressed views here at the Cafe. It’s awfully hard to show up at a PZC meeting and voice concerns but I imagine some WA folk and leaders in town check in to the Cafe from time to time.
Db, Marylou covered it. It’s not bad on Sunday’s but it does happen. As I get older, the brief time on weekends tend to blur so remembering if the sounds are on a Sunday or a Saturday is lost – they just seem to happen on the weekends and on the mornings when my wife wants to sleep in! lol
frankincensed: As to the common. If I remember correctly this is not owned by WA but the town or the land owners abutting the area. Part of the problem with the uneven surface is that the common is part of the leach fields for WA. The fact that they parked cars on it I believed caused the failures of the leach fields to work correctly. This is one of the reasons that NE Public Health Dept has restricted parking rules on houses that use septic and leach fields. (Read: parking on lawns in/around fairgrounds has caused some problems with septic drainage to numerous houses.) So the uneven surface is part of the telegraphing of the underground leaching fields through the soil.
Also if you actually walked around the area there is not enough space for the amount of fields that a 1100+ student regional high school needs.
My understanding with the type of loan that WA got (US Government) was to complete the Sewer line connection to WA proper. I thought that there was conversations with Inn to see if they wanted to tap into the line, but I have lost track of the issue. Either way I believe that there will be work done this year to tie WA into the sewer line.
I do agree with Marylou that WA’s BoD’s first priority should have been to get the sewer line completed then work on the fields not the other way around. Health and physical safety should have come first for the majority of the WA student body not just the athletes. If you don’t believe this go up the main campus on a warm spring day after heavy rains and see if you can locate the source of the unique aroma of the problems with their sewer discharge. Not sure where the honey wagon pumping fees/expenses/number of visits would show up in the WA annual statements for this service…
Ron, I thought WA was connected to the sewer. Or at least, they’re darn close to it. They dug a path across the bus loading zone in front of the Academy building… don’t know what became of it after that.