Braden River Soccer Club flips the switch at Lakewood Ranch Community Park

Soccer is a family affair for the McElyea family.

Candice McElyea brings her children, Parker and Paige, to soccer practice and games at Lakewood Ranch Park five days a week.

During the fall and winter months, she barely can see her children while they are running along the field as members of the Braden River Soccer Club, running on the field.

The three fields where her children typically play don't have any lights, and over the past 15 years, that has caused safety concerns among parents.

"The kids would practice sometimes and it’d be pitch black," McElyea said to Manatee County Commissioners at a Nov. 3 meeting. "It's so dark at night this time of year that you can't even see your kids out there. It's a bad learning environment for kids, too, if they can barely see their coaches."

County commissioners gave approval for the soccer club to add lights to the remaining unlit fields.

The county isn't funding the project, but it will construct the lights for the club, which is paying $45,000 over three years to erect the lights.

Braden River Soccer Club is the primary tenant of the park, and the organization is using dollars from park impact fees and membership fees to fund the project.

The club pays $20 per hour per field, for three hours on four nights a week.

"It adds up quickly," said Brenden Moriarty, the club's president. "Playing here is a big part of our budget."

Braden River's club is growing. On various occasions, multiple teams would have to practice on one field to share the lights.

"It was becoming a space issue, too," Moriarty said.

The county didn't have dollars available in its budget to pay for the lights, Manatee County Administrator Ed Hunzeker said.

Moriarty hopes at least one field will be lit by the end of the month.

"That could be wishful thinking,"Moriarty said. "But we'll see."

A stipulation of the county approving the lights was that they would be turned off by 9:05 p.m. daily, because the unlit fields are adjacent to the Rosedale community.

County commissioners met with Rosedale residents to ensure they didn't object to the fields having more lighting.

"I don’t anticipate any issues," Moriarty said. "Prior to the resolution going for commission approval, commissioners discussed plans with residents and that was all taken care of. I hope residents understand that they did purchase property right next to a park that was preexisting, as were the lights."

He doesn't want to upset neighbors, though, and plans to stick to the cutoff time as best he can, except in rare occasions when a game lasts longer than 9 p.m.

More than a year ago, the club brought in portable lights to illuminate the fields.

The noise of the generators was too loud for residents, though, and the club had to remove those lights.

"We're going to be good stewards and neighbors," Moriarty said.

District 5 Commissioner Vanessa Baugh sees the issue of adding lights as a way to encourage children to stay involved in a community activity.

She has been working with stakeholders for more than a year on the subject.

"These kids are learning team building and leadership while they're playing," Baugh said. "They won't have to stop playing early because it's too dark. Soccer is a huge sport here. These lights will be a benefit for everyone."

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].