John Seymour, left, and David Swiger in front of Swiger's house, which faces Bishop O'Connell high school's football field. (Photo: Jay Westcott)

David Swiger has always rebuffed incredulous friends who ask, "really? You live between two schools?"

"I've always told them, 'it's awesome.' Because after 4 or 5 p.m., it's really quiet around here," says the single father of one who lives across from Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School and next to Tuckahoe Elementary.

Now Swiger and some of his neighbors are worried all that is about to change as O'Connell pursues a multimillion dollar renovation of the school's athletic facilities, complete with lights for nighttime use.

The more than 50-year-old Catholic school is planning to put artificial turf on its football field and expand it to allow for a regulation size soccer field, add a track and field area, renovate an existing baseball field, and add lights around the entire area.

An agreement in the works between the high school and Marymount University would include the university footing the bill for part of the estimated $6 million it will cost to upgrade the fields. In exchange, Marymount would have use of the fields for additional sports teams as it expands its athletic program, explains university spokeswoman Shelley Dutton. That deal has not been finalized.

But neighbors, especially those who live on the residential streets facing Bishop O'Connell, aren't too keen on the plan. One of them, Bill Adair, has even started a blog about it.

The school submitted a special use permit for the lights to the county in July, but the county board's consideration of the proposal has been delayed since September while the school tried to work with neighbors.

The county board is scheduled to vote on the lights permit Jan. 22, and a group of neighbors have collected more than 300 signatures on a petition opposing the plan. Earlier this year, the Arlington East Falls Church Civic Association voted by a measure of 4-1 against it.

From the school's perspective, the fields are desperately in need of repair; they haven't been overhauled since the school opened in 1957. "Our athletic facilities are in pretty abysmal shape," school president Kathy Prebble says. "This partnership with Marymount has really been an incredible opportunity to make the kind of improvements we need to make within our limited resources." 

Prebble says that the school has tried to be responsive to neighbors' concerns. They're going to open up the track to public use on weekends when it doesn't conflict with school uses, and add landscaping to improve the look of the fields.

She's not convinced that they'll win over everyone, however. "We've come to a lot of agreement on several issues. We don't have an agreement yet because for some people, it involves lights or no lights, to some extent," she says.

John Seymour, a member of the Williamsburg Civic Association, is concerned not just for the lights, but for the overall "commotion" the increased field usage will cause.

"I've lived in the neighborhood 25 years now, and when I moved in, I was concerned about the high school. But I talked to the neighbors, and they said it wasn't hard to come to grips with the commotion during the day," he says. "It was a factor in my moving here. You expect peace and quiet, and that your kids can play hide and seek without concern for safety and traffic issues."

O'Connell's initial application requested use of the lights year-round until 11:30 p.m. at night. More recently, the school has drafted a memorandum of understanding that would agree to shut lights at 9 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. on weeknights and 10 p.m. or 10:30 p.m. on weekends.

With the potential that O'Connell will host Marymount sporting events and practices, and possibly Arlington County sports leagues on other nights, Seymour says neighbors could be looking at a complete change to the nighttime quality of life there. "It's the constant change and mix. It's not just one event, or just O'Connell. It's going to be people coming and going all the time."

"The traffic is going to be one of the most unsafe parts of this project," adds Swiger. The neighborhood already has traffic calming measures like speed bumps and traffic circles, but Seymour is predicting it will be "overwhelmed" by the amount of cars coming into the neighborhood to use the new fields.

"We're trying to continue to see how we can add the lights with the new athletic fields, and continue to offer that sense of a neighborhood feel, to be aware that it is a residential, quiet neighborhood," Prebble says.

She's got several meetings scheduled in January to try to make that case. She'll meet with a working group of neighbors, school officials and a county parks and recreation staffer Jan. 3, and then pitch the memorandum of understanding [PDF] to the Arlington East Falls Church Civic Association Jan. 6 and the Williamsburg Civic Association Jan. 11.

Their approval is not assured, members say, given that the neighborhoods are not assured there is enough community benefit to grant the special use. "They will need enough support to convince the AEFCCA Executive Board that it is appropriate to set aside the unequivocal rejection of the proposal by the AEFCCA general membership in October," association president John Wilson says.

The AEFCCA sent a letter to the county and the school requesting that they receive pledges of support from 70 percent of the immediately adjacent neighbors, according to association president John Wilson. But Swiger and his neighbors say that close to 80 percent of those same households have signed a petition against it.

Seymour isn't seeking a compromise, but rather the county board's rejection of the permit. "For the residents against this proposal, we're not looking for a compromise," he says. "We're opposed." When asked whether he or other neighbors would consider legal action on the matter, he says he can't rule it out.

Looking out his front window, Swiger can point across the street to where one of the 58-foot light poles will be located. His son Liam's bedroom faces the fields as well. "My son's room is in the front of our home. I might be able to block the light, but I can't stop the traffic, the noise, the screaming," he says. "For me this is a huge sacrifice that really impacts the quality of my family's life."