No nighttime field lighting

Should local parks have more than just security lighting in the nighttime hours? That all depends on who you ask.

Nye County Commissioner Ian Bayne certainly seems to feel there is room to at least try a pilot program of sorts to provide lighting for the sports fields and courts, which stay off at night unless a sports team has a formal field allocation or there is a permitted event.

“Keeping our lights on until 9 to 10 p.m. may cost money but the price tag of the lost life and the danger, I don’t know what that is,” Bayne stated at the commission’s August 5 meeting. “I know it’s inconvenient to allocate funding for this but it is also inconvenient that people cannot use their parks.”

The item was prompted by a request from local resident Stephanie Lopez, a mother of five boys ages 18 to 23. “They participate in an indoor soccer tournament in Las Vegas and they have nowhere to practice out here. So, I am asking to have reasonable hours at the park so that my boys… are able to practice in a safe place and a well-lit place.”

Lopez said that as a woman, she would also feel much safer using the park at night if there was more light available.

Other than naming Ian Deutch Memorial Park and Petrack Park, where a shooting and stabbings have occurred, Bayne did not come with any specifics in the extended lighting hours proposal. He said he had deliberately kept it vague to allow for input from both the public and his fellow board members but, after hearing from town staff, there simply wasn’t the appetite among the board to move the item forward and it was ultimately rejected.

“I am hoping to remind the commission that we do have a field allocation process for a reason,” Pahrump Administrative Secretary Courtney Kenney told the board. “The sports organizations that come onto our fields, the reason they follow a field allocation process is so they can get their lights on. They are also required to be insured when they are on town property, pay their fees and provide a security deposit. My only concern is that if we leave the lights on until 10 or 11 p.m. at night, that you’re going to invite other sports organizations to come onto our fields because the lights are on.”

Kenney said this could create liability for the county, a point that was echoed by Pahrump Buildings and Grounds Manager Jimmy Martinez. He noted that it could set a precedent for other clubs and teams, as well, who may then decide to forego the field allocation process. Commissioner Bruce Jabbour jumped in to state that he was concerned that teams paying to play and other groups that don’t may even end up in confrontations over this.

“I’m sorry, I can’t buy into the [idea that], if we put up lights, it’ll stop crime or deter crime, because they’ll just go to where it’s dark and take care of business. So I don’t think that’s a real solution,” Jabbour added.

Commissioner Debra Strickland suggested that perhaps Lopez’s family could go through the field allocation process form in order to have the lights turned on specifically for their own practice times. “One person has a need to have the lights on for practicing, I get it. But I’m not sure that warrants keeping the lights on all night…” Strickland stated.

Bayne, however, countered that he felt that would be too much red tape for regular residents to go through just to use the public parks.

Following several more minutes of debate, Bayne made a motion to start a pilot program for lighting until 9 p.m. at the Petrack Park basketball courts for a period of 60 days. Commission Chair Ron Boskovich offered a second but the motion failed 3-2, with commissioners Strickland, Jabbour and John Koenig against.

The current lighting policy for the parks will therefore remain the same. Lighting for fields and courts will not be turned on unless a field allocation has been made, while security lights for bathrooms, buildings and certain areas of the parks are run from dawn to dusk.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com