By Sheila McLaughlin
Enquirer Staff Writer

SYMMES TWP. - Baseball parents can start making improvements at the Loveland High School field on which their children play.

But the ministadium can't be lighted and the game can't be announced from a new press box until the township decides how noise and glare should be controlled, zoning officials decided this week. .

Their ruling came after a two-hour meeting and complaints from a group of eight nearby residents who said they're growing weary of noise from the school. They objected to any lighting, saying it would only open up the field to nighttime play - and more disruption.

"The school has been a tremendous neighbor, but we don't know that we want to hear a PA system for two to three months a year," Tom Wood of Meadowknoll Drive told the township board of zoning appeals. "Even if it's not as loud as football, a consistent sound for 60 days is going to wear on people."

The field is in use almost daily from April until early August. Varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams play six days a week, with doubleheaders on Saturday, from April until early June. After that, the school district allows Knothole teams to use the field.

John Christian, a parent spearheading improvements at the field, said the group didn't want anyone but high school teams to use the public-address system. But he noted that the property was owned and controlled by the school district. John Ames, the district's business manager, said the public-address system would be used only for school games.

Zoning officials said they intend to set limits on the public-address system's hours of operation and decibel levels, and to restrict who could use it. They will consider it at a future meeting after the parents and school officials submit a design for the speaker system as well as information on how the sound level could be kept down.

Christian indicated lighting wasn't an issue for now, because no money would be available for years unless someone offers a hefty donation.

---

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com