Two Chattanooga and Hamilton County boards approved funding and higher poles than city code allows for lighting at Erlanger Park, the new home of the Chattanooga Lookouts under construction on the Southside.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Sports Authority unanimously approved a measure Thursday to raise the guaranteed maximum price of stadium construction by $975,000 for lighting.
The Lookouts were initially going to pay for all the lighting fixtures, but the cost was split between the Sports Authority and the team in the final financing agreement, City Engineer Bill Payne told the board.
READ MORE: Erlanger Park capacity double average Lookouts attendance at AT&T Field)
“The dollars had been included in the entire budget the entire time,” Payne said. “This is not anything where we have to worry about cost overruns or schedule delays. This is purely an administrative contractual necessity.”
The guaranteed maximum price of construction was originally $76.3 million with a $1.5 million contingency but has risen above $78 million. The additional $975,000 for lighting will come from $80 million in bonds the Sports Authority, which owns the stadium, issued last year.
The stadium development is expected to cost $115 million and open by the 2026 minor league baseball season.
EXCEPTIONALLY TALL
William Mullins, a partner at Chattanooga-based Derthick, Henley & Wilkerson Architects, came to the city’s zoning panel Thursday to seek an exception to code for tall lighting poles.
Developers must seek special approval for sports field lights more than 65 feet above home plate.
Erlanger Park will feature eight light poles between 90 feet and 120 feet above home plate to comply with Major League Baseball standards, Mullins said.
“The taller your poles are, the more vertical your light is, which means you’re reducing your light bleed,” Mullins said. “We want a very well-illuminated field, and we don’t want to blind the neighbors. That’s why poles in most parks now are as tall as they are.”
The lights will provide between 300 and 400 foot-candles of illumination for nighttime games, a measurement of how much light falls on the field.
Even if the lights are tall enough to avoid glare, they will still likely shine into residential units planned by Atlanta-based New City Properties next to the outfield, Mullins said.
Jim Irwin, president of New City Properties, told the Sports Authority the 290-unit building was still under design.
“Somehow, the field is being sold as an amenity to those apartments,” Mullins said. “We were there first.”
Contact Daniel Dassow at ddassow@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.