Worcester County planning panel approves Seaside Christian site plan with lighting and fencing conditions after neighbor objections

The Worcester County Planning Commission on an April meeting approved a site-plan waiver package for Seaside Christian Academy that will allow a lower roof pitch, reduced facade transparency and other design variances, but only after commissioners required measures to limit light and noise and to add a six-foot vinyl fence with supplemental landscaping along the school—9s rear property line.

Commissioners voted to grant the waivers with the stipulation that "all lighting [comply] with the code regarding not going on to adjacent properties," that temporary generator lighting be replaced with permanent, shielded field lighting, and that a six-foot vinyl fence with additional plantings be installed along the rear property boundary adjacent to residential lots. The motion passed with commissioners answering "aye"; no commissioner spoke against the approval on the record.

Neighbors had objected that ongoing field use already produces nighttime light and generator noise and said recent clearing of trees removed a buffer between the Seaside property and nearby homes. Nancy Anacarico, who said her property at 10123 Queen Circle abuts the school site, told the panel, "this building would basically be in my backyard," and described what she called ongoing "light pollution and noise pollution" from portable generators and field lighting that now reaches residents' bedrooms.

Project representatives including Sean Davis, pastor of the church that owns the site,…