Neighbors still trying to appeal county's O'Connell High School decision
- Neighbors closest to the school aren't on board with a proposal to light the atheltic fields. (Photo: Jay Westcott)
How ferocious is the fight to stop Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School in Arlington from renovating and lighting its athletic fields? One group of residents has now filed an appeal of a decision to reject their previous appeal of the plan.
There's still another month before the Arlington County Board will hear testimony about the hated lights (traffic! noise! brightness!). In the meantime, a group of eight neighbors is taking their case to the county's Board of Zoning Appeals. They question why the school was able to get approval for its $6 million field renovation without going before the County Board. The county's zoning administrator signed off on the plans, minus the lights, in July.
An initial appeal, submitted Jan. 24, was denied because it was submitted more than 30 days after the July decision, according to the zoning department. In a filing submitted this week, the residents now argue that they were not notified of the decision until Jan. 10.
"The Zoning Administrator’s decision to reject the appeal is erroneous because appellants received no written notice of the determination and most community members had no notice at all of the determination until its publication on the County web-site," reads the appeal.
O'Connell is pursuing the massive project in partnership with Marymount University, including NCAA compliant soccer and baseball fields.
The lighting plan is expected to come before the County Board in March. The Board of Zoning Appeals will hear the case against the renovation plans in May.
10 Comments
l L
There is no such thing as Catholic lights. Whether the petitioners were protestant, or Jewish, or nonsectarian, I would expect that any petition of this magnitude to change the status quo would generate some controversy. In response to Williamsburg, yes, I wrote a letter to the county board, but it was not about lights, it was about concerns based on statements by O'Connell that there was some kind of quiet partnership going on to fast track the petition. Those concerns have since been alleviated. I made no reference in my note to teachings on abortion and would never have made that an issue. However, I did have a concern about the county entering into a partnership with a school which, according to friends with children at the school, endorsed very clear partisan views in the last election. I am not going to repeat the specifics here. I did not realize that the contents of my letter were to be made public.
l L
There is no such thing as Catholic school. Whether the petitioners are Catholic, or protestant, or Jewish, or nonsectarian, any proposal like this to change the status quo will generate controversy. In response to "Williamsburg", yes, I wrote a letter to the county board, but it wasn't about lights, it was about a concern about rumors of a secretive partnership between the county and DJO, and I believe that the concern has been alleviated. Nonetheless, there was no mention anywhere in my letter about abortion. I would never have brought that up. However, I did have a concern about the county entering into a partnership with a school which, according to friends with kids in the school, encouraged very specific partisan views in the last election. I am not going to repeat the specifics here. I did not realize that the contents of my letter were to be made public.
Real Name
How do YOU know that every high school in the country has major rebuilding renovation projects with little or no complaints for nearby residents? Have you looked them all up? If it's true, perhaps public schools aren't subject to zoning or something like that. The idea that neighbors wouldn't want lights because they don't like Catholics is absurd.
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