LIGHT THE FIELDS
The Issue
A Petition to Modernize Byron Johnson Recreation Area and Expand Athletic Opportunities for the Children of Upper Freehold and Allentown
To the Upper Freehold Township Committee:
Every year, nearly 1,000 children from Upper Freehold and Allentown participate in local youth sports programs that depend upon our Township's athletic fields.
They play baseball. Softball. Soccer. Lacrosse. Football. Tennis. Pickleball. They practice here, compete here, make friends here and grow up representing our community.
The Township itself recognizes many of these organizations—including Upper Freehold-Allentown baseball and softball, Upper Freehold/Allentown Soccer, Pop Warner and lacrosse—as regular users of our municipal athletic facilities. UFA Soccer alone operates both recreational and travel programs for local children from pre-K through eighth grade and uses Byron Johnson Park as one of its home-field locations.
And yet, despite the extraordinary level of participation in youth athletics in our community, the usable day at our fields still effectively ends when the sun goes down.
Nearly 1,000 Kids Are Sharing a Limited Number of Daylight Hours
As our community has grown and participation in youth sports has expanded, the demand placed on our athletic facilities has changed dramatically.
During the spring and especially the fall, daylight disappears earlier while hundreds of children still need fields for practices and games.
That means multiple sports and organizations are competing for the same limited window of usable field time.
It means compressed practice schedules.
It means fewer opportunities for our children to practice.
It means games and practices have to be moved elsewhere.
And it means local organizations can be forced to spend money renting lighted facilities outside our community—including facilities such as Adventure Crossing—rather than investing those resources in programs for our own children.
For a community with nearly 1,000 children participating in local sports each year, that simply doesn't make sense anymore.
A Restriction From Another Era Shouldn't Determine Our Children's Future
The problem isn't that Upper Freehold lacks fields.
The problem is that an outdated deed restriction written years ago prevents the Township from lighting them.
The restriction states:
“No athletic field lighting shall be installed by the Township or others on the property.”
That absolute prohibition was established long before today's level of participation, before the current demands on our recreational facilities, and before modern LED athletic lighting technology offered the level of control available today.
Our community has evolved. Our recreation programs have evolved. Lighting technology has evolved. This restriction has not.
The property is supposed to serve the public for recreation. The deed itself expressly contemplates facilities and improvements that directly support public recreation, subject to appropriate review.
It is difficult to justify allowing an archaic prohibition to indefinitely limit the recreational potential of a facility serving nearly 1,000 local children every year.
We are not asking the Township Committee to ignore the deed.
We are asking them to lead the effort to change it.
Give Our Kids the Same Opportunities Available in Other Communities
Upper Freehold should not have to send its children elsewhere simply because other communities have lighted fields and we do not.
Lighting appropriate fields would substantially increase the usable capacity of facilities we already own without requiring the Township to acquire acres of additional property simply to create more field time.
A field that becomes unusable at 6:30 p.m. during part of the season could potentially accommodate additional practices and games into the evening.
That means more field availability, more practices, more flexibility for families and more opportunities for our kids.
And most importantly, it means keeping our children playing here at home.
Modern Lights. Responsible Hours. Minimal Taxpayer Impact.
Supporting field lighting does not mean supporting unlimited nighttime activity.
A modern plan can incorporate:
LED directional athletic lighting • shielding and spill controls • automated scheduling • reasonable operating curfews • limits on hours of operation • professional photometric design
Nor should this automatically mean a significant new burden on taxpayers.
The Township should aggressively pursue available state and county recreation grants, youth-sports grants, nonprofit funding, sponsorships and other outside funding opportunities to offset construction costs.
The operating cost of the lights can also be incorporated into recreation organization fees, field-use charges and other dedicated recreation revenues so that the organizations benefiting from extended field hours help pay for their operation.
The goal should be to maximize opportunities for our children while minimizing the burden on taxpayers.
Nearly 1,000 Reasons to Act
This isn't about lights.
It's about what those lights make possible.
Another practice.
Another game.
Another team that has room to play.
Another child who gets the opportunity to participate.
Another family that doesn't have to drive somewhere else because their hometown fields went dark.
Youth sports teach our children teamwork, discipline, perseverance, leadership, sportsmanship and how to succeed—and fail—together.
Nearly 1,000 children from Upper Freehold and Allentown participate in these programs every year.
They deserve recreational facilities capable of supporting them.
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, ASK THE UPPER FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE TO:
Formally begin the process of modifying or removing the outdated deed restriction prohibiting athletic field lighting at Byron Johnson Recreation Area; work with Monmouth County and all appropriate authorities to secure the necessary approvals; develop a responsible modern athletic-lighting plan; and aggressively pursue grants, partnerships, sponsorships and recreation funding to minimize the financial impact on Upper Freehold taxpayers.
We support our Township Committee in taking the lead on this effort, and our signatures demonstrate that the community is ready to stand behind them.
Nearly 1,000 kids already use our fields.
Let's give them more time to play.
LIGHT THE FIELDS.
Let Our Kids Play at Home.
317
The Issue
A Petition to Modernize Byron Johnson Recreation Area and Expand Athletic Opportunities for the Children of Upper Freehold and Allentown
To the Upper Freehold Township Committee:
Every year, nearly 1,000 children from Upper Freehold and Allentown participate in local youth sports programs that depend upon our Township's athletic fields.
They play baseball. Softball. Soccer. Lacrosse. Football. Tennis. Pickleball. They practice here, compete here, make friends here and grow up representing our community.
The Township itself recognizes many of these organizations—including Upper Freehold-Allentown baseball and softball, Upper Freehold/Allentown Soccer, Pop Warner and lacrosse—as regular users of our municipal athletic facilities. UFA Soccer alone operates both recreational and travel programs for local children from pre-K through eighth grade and uses Byron Johnson Park as one of its home-field locations.
And yet, despite the extraordinary level of participation in youth athletics in our community, the usable day at our fields still effectively ends when the sun goes down.
Nearly 1,000 Kids Are Sharing a Limited Number of Daylight Hours
As our community has grown and participation in youth sports has expanded, the demand placed on our athletic facilities has changed dramatically.
During the spring and especially the fall, daylight disappears earlier while hundreds of children still need fields for practices and games.
That means multiple sports and organizations are competing for the same limited window of usable field time.
It means compressed practice schedules.
It means fewer opportunities for our children to practice.
It means games and practices have to be moved elsewhere.
And it means local organizations can be forced to spend money renting lighted facilities outside our community—including facilities such as Adventure Crossing—rather than investing those resources in programs for our own children.
For a community with nearly 1,000 children participating in local sports each year, that simply doesn't make sense anymore.
A Restriction From Another Era Shouldn't Determine Our Children's Future
The problem isn't that Upper Freehold lacks fields.
The problem is that an outdated deed restriction written years ago prevents the Township from lighting them.
The restriction states:
“No athletic field lighting shall be installed by the Township or others on the property.”
That absolute prohibition was established long before today's level of participation, before the current demands on our recreational facilities, and before modern LED athletic lighting technology offered the level of control available today.
Our community has evolved. Our recreation programs have evolved. Lighting technology has evolved. This restriction has not.
The property is supposed to serve the public for recreation. The deed itself expressly contemplates facilities and improvements that directly support public recreation, subject to appropriate review.
It is difficult to justify allowing an archaic prohibition to indefinitely limit the recreational potential of a facility serving nearly 1,000 local children every year.
We are not asking the Township Committee to ignore the deed.
We are asking them to lead the effort to change it.
Give Our Kids the Same Opportunities Available in Other Communities
Upper Freehold should not have to send its children elsewhere simply because other communities have lighted fields and we do not.
Lighting appropriate fields would substantially increase the usable capacity of facilities we already own without requiring the Township to acquire acres of additional property simply to create more field time.
A field that becomes unusable at 6:30 p.m. during part of the season could potentially accommodate additional practices and games into the evening.
That means more field availability, more practices, more flexibility for families and more opportunities for our kids.
And most importantly, it means keeping our children playing here at home.
Modern Lights. Responsible Hours. Minimal Taxpayer Impact.
Supporting field lighting does not mean supporting unlimited nighttime activity.
A modern plan can incorporate:
LED directional athletic lighting • shielding and spill controls • automated scheduling • reasonable operating curfews • limits on hours of operation • professional photometric design
Nor should this automatically mean a significant new burden on taxpayers.
The Township should aggressively pursue available state and county recreation grants, youth-sports grants, nonprofit funding, sponsorships and other outside funding opportunities to offset construction costs.
The operating cost of the lights can also be incorporated into recreation organization fees, field-use charges and other dedicated recreation revenues so that the organizations benefiting from extended field hours help pay for their operation.
The goal should be to maximize opportunities for our children while minimizing the burden on taxpayers.
Nearly 1,000 Reasons to Act
This isn't about lights.
It's about what those lights make possible.
Another practice.
Another game.
Another team that has room to play.
Another child who gets the opportunity to participate.
Another family that doesn't have to drive somewhere else because their hometown fields went dark.
Youth sports teach our children teamwork, discipline, perseverance, leadership, sportsmanship and how to succeed—and fail—together.
Nearly 1,000 children from Upper Freehold and Allentown participate in these programs every year.
They deserve recreational facilities capable of supporting them.
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, ASK THE UPPER FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE TO:
Formally begin the process of modifying or removing the outdated deed restriction prohibiting athletic field lighting at Byron Johnson Recreation Area; work with Monmouth County and all appropriate authorities to secure the necessary approvals; develop a responsible modern athletic-lighting plan; and aggressively pursue grants, partnerships, sponsorships and recreation funding to minimize the financial impact on Upper Freehold taxpayers.
We support our Township Committee in taking the lead on this effort, and our signatures demonstrate that the community is ready to stand behind them.
Nearly 1,000 kids already use our fields.
Let's give them more time to play.
LIGHT THE FIELDS.
Let Our Kids Play at Home.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on September 8, 2026