Neighbors fear St. Joe's sports plans

Like the robin's song and the evening hum of insects, the crack of a bat announces the return of spring. But what if every single or double was followed by a cheering crowd outside your living-room window? Or if a peaceful weekend of reading at home was interrupted by a voice naming players over a speaker system?

That is the fear of at least 275 residents of Lower Merion embroiled in a fight with St. Joseph's University. The college wants to start playing baseball, softball, and field hockey games on the site of the former Episcopal Academy, which is now part of the university's campus.

Tonight, the township zoning hearing board will decide whether St. Joseph's can go forward with its plans or if the university needs further township approval to add bleachers, dugouts, and sound systems.

"We will use their decision for guidance in how we proceed," said Harriet Goodheart, university spokeswoman.

St. Joe's bought 32 acres along Latchs Lane in 2005 from Episcopal Academy, which moved to Newtown Square, and intended to have its teams to play there, Goodheart said. The site, now the James J. Maguire Campus, includes 21 buildings, 14 acres of athletic fields, and 319 parking spaces, said Michael Wylie, zoning officer for Lower Merion.

Episcopal played games at the fields, and St. Joseph's told the township it planned to use the land similarly. Goodheart said St. Joe's had held more than 20 community meetings in the last year to explain its plans for the site.

The school's NCAA Division I baseball, softball, and field hockey teams now travel to other fields for home games. The baseball and softball teams have played in the Norristown area. Those drives can take 40 minutes, Goodheart said. The field hockey team has played at Drexel University.

"The travel time back and forth obviously is a factor for student athletes," Goodheart said. "We looked at this as an opportunity to bring athletics to our campus."

But some neighbors were surprised to see the college had plans to build bleachers and dugouts and install two sound systems. College games typically draw more fans than high school games, and neighbors fear bigger crowds will generate more noise and traffic.

"On weekends, people take walks and ride bikes. It's a quiet area," said Adena Potok, 76, who owns a home on Berwick Road near the fields. "The happy sounds of hundreds of people coming to baseball games on the weekends cannot preserve that quiet."

Tiffany O'Neill, whose condo looks out onto a field, said she wouldn't mind the games, but thought the college should do more to compromise with neighbors.

"It's their property, and they can do what they want," she said. "But on the other hand, there is a giving back to a neighborhood, a very historic neighborhood."

The Merion Community Coalition has formed in opposition to the college's plans for the fields, and at least 275 people have signed a petition on the group's Web site. The group hired a lawyer to help members navigate the zoning process.

The group also has hired a sound engineer, who has said the audio system used for announcements might be loud enough for people within a half-mile radius to hear.

Goodheart declined comment on how the noise might affect neighbors, but said only about 100 people showed up for the school's baseball games. St. Joe's has no plans to install lights, she said, meaning that games could be played only during the day.

Whatever the board decides, either side will have 30 days to file an appeal in Montgomery County Court, Wylie said.

If the board decides that the university's plans are substantially different from the plans presented when it bought the land in 2005, St. Joe's will have to apply to the zoning board for exceptions. Also, the Montgomery County Regional Planning Commission would make recommendations on the project, and the township Board of Commissioners would have to approve the measure, Wylie said.