Notes From The Worcester Zoning Board Hearing and the October 22nd Meeting

This was my first time attending a Worcester Zoning Board Hearing, and my second Zoning Board Hearing overall, for the proposed variance for the newly-minted Robert Childress Memorial Baseball Field scoreboard, an internally lit, LED scoreboard, with the dimensions being 36 feet by 10 feet. Which, in case you haven't been aware, the Baseball Field Project is completely, 100% independent of the proposed Methacton Athletic Field Improvement Project, and will be on a completely separate field. The project is being funded by J.P. Mascaro and Sons, a local waste disposal company well known to the residents of Lower Providence, since everyone but a handful of people are required to use J.P. Mascaro as trash pickup; the total of the project so far has eclipsed $170,000, and will probably continue to rise. But if you have seen the baseball field as of late, it's money well spent.

(It was funny last week, at the School Board Meeting, when this was brought up by my mother, whom I attended this meeting with, that they had no idea that this was happening. Really? It's part of your school, and shouldn't at least one Board Member keep tabs on something like this? Come on...)

The meeting was a simple one: J.P Mascaro and Methacton were declaring hardship on the current ordinance because the sign proposed would be bigger than the ordinance allowed. Just as a note, the sign is proposed to be placed at right-center field, raised five feet to peek over the also-proposed chain link fence to be installed around the perimeter of the field. The size of the sign (36' x 10') and the size of the LED lit letters and numbers (eighteen inches for the numbers, the team names would be 24 inches) would be optimal for viewing by the athletes and fans in attendance. On top of that, the topography of the field as it is would have all but a small portion of the sign be obscured by motorists traveling on Germantown Pike, and the sign itself would be facing towards the school. Also, thanks to the lack of lighting, the games can only be played during the daytime. (Mascaro and Methacton would be near-suicidal to try and get lights on the football and baseball field in Worcester!)

The Zoning Board grilled the witnesses and their lawyers hard enough that I saw some grill marks appear (at one point, it was asked if the sign would "flash...vibrate...oscillate...and/or strobe", which I would love to see a sign that vibrates for receiving a text every time a player scores), but that is their job: to grill, to make sure that, in fact, there is hardship and it is being claimed. Also, it's what I expected from Worcester.

What I also expected from Worcester was a fair deal of kickback regarding the sign. Unfortunately, I do not have the pictures displayed at the hearing, but the sign was photoshopped onto the pictures of how the sign would be viewed, to scale of course. The largest legitimate concern would be the brushed aluminum backing that could reflect light into drivers, but it's brushed--which reduces the chance for glare. It's literally a win-win for everybody involved.

Hold for a few residents of Worcester, of course. One big bone of contention is that the scoreboard is classified as a sign, and if signs before were rejected for internally lit LED signs, then what gives MHS any right to have one? (Ignoring the fact that the Zoning Board specifically said that everything is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.) If Worcester allows this sign to go up, would The Vegas Strip, Part II engulf Germantown Pike?

I guess these are legitimate concerns, but I highly doubt it. It's not like Worcester to allow one inch of improvement and it turns into sixteen miles of difference. You would have to remove half of Worcester's population to give the possibility of allowing lights on the baseball field, or the football field. Or any place else.

The Zoning Board is deliberating with each other, and will give their ruling next meeting, November 26th

* * * * * 

NOTE: If you want to watch the board meeting yourself, tune to Lower Providence's Community Channel (Comcast channel 28, FiOS channel 42) the Wednesday after the meeting at 6 PM, or that Friday and Sunday at 12 AM, 8 AM, or 6 PM. Or, here is their YouTube channel.

- It was covered last week, and I never really jumped on it, but the current vacancy of Howard Jones' seat will be filled post-election, with the candidate who received the most votes will take that seat and get all of one month to get a headstart on their fellow members (presuming that they are newbies). Sure, you could petition the courts and complain, but by the time the petition will go through, according to the Board Solicitor, "the seat would be filled". Or, the courts would just allow it to happen anyway, seeing the election is next month.

- I missed the beginning of the meeting, so I didn't get to see the M Awards. Alas, congratulations to all of those students.

- For those of you with an Apple iPhone or an Android device (sorry, Windows Phone), there is now an official Methacton App, so you can be up-to-date with anything and everything Methacton! Sorry, some of the sarcasm got lost in translation from talking to typing, but honestly, most apps by a business or school have one to two uses, get stashed away in some dark recess of the phone, and is usually only really useful for alerts. Good thing too--this app is being produced for free for the school, for right now. However, if you wish to read my awesome site on your mobile phone, I offer a mobile layout of my site.

- The Board accepted the donations of $500 each from the MHS Girls' Track and Field Boosters, Music Boosters, and Football Boosters Clubs going towards a new fridge in the snack bar for outdoor games, which was already bought with District money, so this is sort of a reimbursement.

- Didja wanna go to the Policy Committee meeting this November? Too bad, it's canceled. Much to the surprise of the Policy Committee Chairperson, Maria Shackelford. (Honestly, you cannot make this stuff up.) When asked why it was cancelled, it was because she announced at the Policy Committee Meeting that she wouldn't make the next meeting, so it was 86'ed, even though Kim Woodring would be able to attend. I don't know what happened, either.

- The Board also accepted the donation from J.P, Mascaro and Sons on the Baseball Field Renovation Project, which it's kind of funny that MSD lets work be done on the project and then decide that they in fact, want it, but that's just me. It will be named Robert Childress Memorial Field, after Robert Childress, who was the 17th pick in the 3rd round by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966. However, he didn't sign with the team, and was drafted into the Army for Vietnam in 1967, and sadly killed in action one year later. I have said before that this is a great gesture from a local company, and I am in full support of this move, regardless of any pushback from Worcester, or anyone else at all. I want to extend a thank you to J.P. Mascaro and Sons for thoughtlessly donating their services to this project.

- There was a pretty big piece of news dropped during Public Comment: former Board Member Grant T. Schanbacher brought up a rumor circulating around about a Board Member getting arrested for a "D.U.I or a D.W.I". Joyce Petrauskas responded: apparently, she was cited one way or another for being intoxicated, but there was no arrest, according to her. She is merely the victim of "identity theft", which that whole part of the meeting raises more questions than actually answers.

My biggest question, if the identity theft part is true, who would go out of their way to photoshop this bruiser of a photo and send it off to all of the mugshot websites? Mind you, identity theft can be classified as a felony, and is usually used to steal or buy things in the other person's name and ruin their credit when the accounts aren't paid off. What would be the gain? To bring down a School Board President of a suburban school? The risks of getting caught, and the consequences of such, outweigh that possibility.

Now, there is a chance that this is true--that Mrs. Petrauskas is a victim of a very elaborate defamation of character operation, committed by somebody who is very proficient with photoshop. I'm sure the truth will come out, one way or another.