Environmental commission approves Croatian Park lights inside wetland setback with conditions

The Franklin Environmental Commission on Jan. 8, 2025 approved a natural resource special exception to allow seven permanent light poles within a wetland setback at Croatian Park, 91100 South 76th Street, for the Croatian Eagles Soccer Club.

The exception authorizes seven poles placed inside the wetland setback (part of a larger plan of 19 lights), subject to a recommendation from the commission that the fixtures include night‑sky protective shielding and that an outstanding conservation easement be recorded or revised to reflect the most recent wetland delineation and the approved mitigation area.

Staff said the proposed poles that would be inside the setback are the only elements requiring this special exception; the remaining lights were approved under a minor site plan amendment. The project team said all fixtures meet the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) requirement that light at the property line be effectively zero. "They're oriented down towards the field," said the project engineer, Tim Blankens,…