Pomona Council will consider sport field lighting on Monday

A proposed fee schedule for sport field lighting will go before the City Council Monday night.

Council members will hold a public hearing on the matter before voting on a proposed resolution calling for setting lighting fees at $15 an hour.

The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. for the closed portion of the meeting followed by the open portion at 6:45 at City Hall, 505 S. Garey Ave.

In July, a proposal went before the City Council that involved setting a fee of $18 per hour to use the city sports field with lights.

Representatives of various youth programs objected to the proposal, saying such expenses presented a difficult burden especially on short notice.

Council members sent the matter back to city staff members who presented it to members of the Youth Sports Council where participants, including representatives of the various youth athletic programs in the city, said a workable fee would be $10 or $12 per hour, according to a city staff report.

The matter was later presented to the city's Parks and Recreation Commission earlier this month which recommended fees be set at $5 an hour and have the fee schedule reviewed in a year, the staff report said.

Under that fee, the city would still have to cover more than $66,000 a year in field lighting costs that would have to come from the general fund, the staff report said.

City administrators estimate the city spends about $100,000 a year to light sports fields.