Council to vote on adding two lighted sports fields

Costa Mesa will have two more lighted sports fields if the City Council tonight votes to approve plans to light fields 3 and 4 at the Farm Sports Complex and to hire McKenzie Electric Inc., of Highland, to install the lights.

The $648,000 contract with McKenzie would include an overhaul of the lights that exist on fields 1 and 2 to make them more energy-efficient and reduce the amount of light that spills outside the field areas.

The plan to add more lights at the sports complex raised the ire of some neighbors, who worried the lights would shine on their homes and hurt their quality of life.

Sports boosters who turn out for the meeting will have to try to quell the objections of Councilwoman Wendy Leece. As a city parks commissioner, Leece sided with neighbors and voted against lighting the fields.

The council meets at 6 p.m. at 77 Fair Drive. It will also discuss neighborhood traffic-calming plans. For information on the council meeting, visit www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us.

— Alicia Robinson