There is that phrase something along the lines of it’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. That seems to be the case with the Agnes Irwin School in Radnor Township perhaps? So how do you do lighting without a plan given to the township in which you sit? Would regular folk get away with this? Am I missing rarified air somewhere?
It’s a funny thing with that school. They occasionally seem to have this perennial misplaced sense of entitlement. And every time you hear news of them it’s because they are mentioned in someone’s obituary, or for some shenanigans having to do with grand plans. I will get to the grand plans of the past that didn’t go so well in a bit. But first this new or current kerfuffle over their lighting.
I am not minimizing what neighbors of Agnes Irwin are obviously experiencing given the Radnor Design Review meeting I saw. (Here is the link to the entire meeting.)
I was gob smacked. It was about lighting. As in Fred and Ginger can tap dance inside neighbors’ houses given the brightness of the lights. As in blackout curtains don’t help. As in how do migrating birds not get confused bright. As in the school is lucky there have not been car accidents in neighborhoods they abut or along S. Ithan Ave bright. Sorry not sorry, that is some kind of bull twaddle going on don’t you think? Why is this ok? Because they are a Main Line private school? Heck I went to one and that dog don’t hunt.
According to Ray Matus, former Radnor police officer who is their Director of Safety and Security it was for security measures. Ok but Mr. Matus? You worked at Radnor Township for years, and your dad and uncles did too, right? I get it that you were law enforcement (highway patrol, remember him directing traffic during Villanova stuff), but still, wouldn’t you think you might have to talk to someone other than your former police chief about putting up lighting even for safety?
But you know what? In my opinion the SCHOOL and their capital projects people and facilities or property manager types should definitely know better, and where were they at this meeting? Did they think their security guy as a former Radnor Township employee would just smooth it over? If so, then I am surprised Irwins didn’t have their Dean of Students Grades 5 and 6 Middle School Teacher lady there because isn’t her hubby in fact Radnor’s Township Manager? (Just saying?)
So Irwins has a pretty big footprint over there in Rosemont/Bryn Mawr but I am guessing they are a bit hemmed in? I mean they own that Almondbury House, at 672 Conestoga Rd, Villanova, built in 1911 by Horace Trumbauer. That is a fabulous house, they acquired it in 2015. It’s historic, don’t know what the plans for it are or what it is being used for, offices etc would be my guess. That property is about 6 acres I think, maybe 5. That might be what they refer to as “the annex” here and there?
They also own a house on this flag lot kind of driveway off of Conestoga. That was the house that they asked about in the meeting where they asked Mr. Matus where he lived. I am actually very familiar with the house, I was in it in high school. The family that sold the house had a daughter my year at dare I say it….Shipley. Agnes Irwin bought it from the family. They have owned the house for years at this point. That is very common with private schools and colleges to buy houses adjacent to campuses for staff or heads of school etc. to live in. That property adds a little over an acre to Irwins’ footprint. It’s a sweet house. I always liked it. It was up next to a tennis court in the back if I recall correctly.
The lights are daylight but it’s midnight bright right now according to neighbors at that meeting. I believe the neighbors and more than one spoke. Also important to note, since only one was alluded to by Irwins at meeting. The neighbors over there, aren’t happy and a lot of others have not been happy in the past. Just ask the folks who live on S. Ithan Avenue. Sometimes in the past, I have gone past the school and houses that are neighbors have orange cone things by their driveways. As a matter of fact I am incredulous that Irwins got so much on street parking on S. Ithan because it makes the road feel quite narrow.
Back to the lights. Just yesterday a friend of mine actually commented to me in a phone conversation how bright and glaring the lights of the school are at night when driving on S. Ithan. So I can well imagine what the people on Browning Lane, etc see. My friend who doesn’t live in Radnor, just on the Main Line, referred to the lights as glare bombs.
Lighting is a real issue and it is also an art form when it comes to doing it properly. That means you aren’t just plunking them up. There is a thought process and a plan, right? So why didn’t Irwins consult the neighbors before they did anything? Wouldn’t that have been the nice neighborly thing to do? I went to Shipley which has done tons of building over the years, and as critical as I can be even of my alma mater, I can’t recall their lighting being offensive (and I have criticized an expansion plan or two.) . I also remember them submitting lighting plans along with other plans to Lower Merion Township, so I don’t understand why Irwins didn’t until this meeting? Or did Irwins assume Radnor relationships would just make it all like magic? I guess they missed the memo where being a good neighbor makes magic?
Now let’s dish lighting and Radnor Township. Remember the issues surrounding Villanova University? I seem to recall that neighbors were very up in arms and that RADNOR TOWNSHIP hired a lighting expert to review and do light and sound measurements? Where was that? Aldwyn Lane and elsewhere around, right? I remember this issue coming up more than once with their expansions. And Villanova as a result has lights that are not bright white glare bombs. They just like lots of crosses, right? Here I looked up some old articles concerning Villanova and lighting, most without pay walls:
Agnes Irwin seems to constantly lead with a bit of an elitist attitude in my humble opinion. The fact that this ended up in a Radnor meeting says to me that perhaps neighbors either weren’t being heard or the school didn’t care about what they were hearing from their neighbors? And does that even compute with what the school claims as their values? I think that is truly sad.
The neighbors need to start taking MORE photos. Of lights, traffic, the whole enchilada. Radnor Township needs to step up and get an independent lighting expert etc in this just like they did with Villanova. They can’t ignore residents with real property value worries and environmental and just every day living concerns over a private school. They didn’t ignore it with lighting issues with Villanova and it’s the same damn area. They need a proper lighting plan at Agnes Irwin. They need LOWER lights as in height, as well as different kinds of lights shielded properly (not bright glare bomb white how about a more yellow cast) that lights an area safely without making 3 AM seem like high NOON. What are those magic words? Lumens and foot candles? Again, proper downlighting? Not loving hands at home light shields perhaps? (Duh.)
How many lights do they need on things like the tennis courts which are surrounded by giant fences and are locked up tighter than Fort Knox. (It’s funny, when I was growing up ) remember the school letting some of the courts get used by folks in the area.)
Other suggestions? Proper fencing along perimeters and evergreen screening. Evergreen screening helps with light pollution. Light pollution is real and Agnes Irwin and Radnor Township can’t ignore it. For God’s sake, I bet science teachers there must talk about migrating birds and nature at some point, right? I remember it in elementary school/lower school years myself. Anyway umm hello, what does light pollution do to migrating birds?
https://www.fws.gov/story/threats-birds-collisions-nighttime-lighting
Dark Sky: Light Pollution Poses Threat to Migrating Birds
https://www.audubon.org/our-work/cities-and-towns/lights-out
No one objects to good security, it benefits a school campus and the surrounding area. But what is done shouldn’t ever be at the expense of neighbors.
Agnes Irwin needs to stop the BS. Especially since also at that meeting there was some mention of a potential turf field in their future? Haven’t they learned from turf fields yet? And this one to be would be where? There is a big grassy field near Browning Lane I think? Doesn’t that run to a creek and is it even big/wide/long enough? I am asking the question because I don’t know, I just have a memory of that field, and others over there from high school. And turf fields all require constant monetization to have any semblance of economic feasibility in addition to all the environmental issues, correct? They are super expensive, right? I also remember seeing a new thing on turf fields where they showed an old turf field graveyard. That stuff is not found in nature and does not break down. Besides, how many turf fields do we need in any area?
And there has been a LOT of negative press in the past over Irwins and fields/turf fields. As a matter of fact, some one I know owns the property on Sugartown Road in Easttown they once wanted to get part of for fields. And then there was the whole giant thing about them leasing Radnor Township owned fields in some park.
Agnes Irwin needs a refresher course in being community minded and a good neighbor. There is something to be said for good community relations. Enough with the misplaced sense of entitlement of it all. And yes I can have these opinions. And anyone who knows me will know my not liking issues with lights, turf fields, etc with regard to academic institutions is nothing new. And academic institutions with neighbor relations issues is also a particular pet peeve.
And a not so subtle love tap to the invisible interim commissioner in Ward 4 in Radnor. So Jim Reilley if you wanted to be a commissioner, dude then be one. It means being present in your ward. You are freaking INVISIBLE . For residents he is supposed to serve he has a page on Radnor’s exceptionally clunky website. I will also note he lives literally in that affected neighborhood. (So unless he exists under a rock he can’t deny this issue exists.)
Here is refreshing all of your memories on Agnes Irwin and their other community kerfuffles past: