Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Ken Bounds has officially denied resident's requests to leave field lights at the Loyal Heights Playfield off for more than one night a week, limiting the fields' availability to five nights a week.

The 6.7-acre park is now under construction for year-round use, with the replacement of grass with synthetic turf and eight new, 80-foot field lights. Some residents say the transformation will bring unwanted noise and traffic to the neighborhood.

They've asked the city to withhold permits for the $2.3 million project unless the parks department agrees to turn off the field lights at least two evenings a week to mitigate those impacts.

In September, the city council approved the installation of the field lights with an amendment sponsored by councilman Peter Steinbrueck that the parks department seek "meaningful public involvement and review" of the lighting plan before building permits are issued.

A public meeting was held last month when about 30 people expressed their concern about the field lighting hours. In a recent email correspondence to the Loyal Heights Community Council Executive Committee, Bounds said the playfield would be lit using the same schedule as other fields within the department are that have residents adjacent to them.

The lights will be on from dusk until 10:15 p.m., six days a week at the playfield located between 20th and 22nd Avenues Northwest and Northwest 75th and 77th streets. Those hours are based on a city council resolution adopted in 2002, which set a template for hours of operation at city fields.

Bounds, who is slated to retire in February, said Loyal Heights will be the only field in the system available for scheduling six days per week rather than seven. Many fields are available until 11 p.m. seven nights a week.

Bounds added that most fields are not scheduled for every evening they are available, especially during the winter.

The new lights are designed to limit residential spill light and glare on nearby private property, but residents are worried they will increase sky glow, becoming a nuisance to people farther away.

Bounds also noted that the lighting schedule for the field had been decided earlier in the year.

Jim Anderson, president of the Loyal Heights Community Council, said the department knew before the last public meeting was held that all decisions were final. It's indicative of how the department has treated resident's concerns from the start of the project more than a year ago, he said.

"This was in complete defiance of council's intent of 'meaningful public involvement,'" said Anderson, who has fought the parks department on several if its decisions regarding the field project. "This clearly identifies the phony process that residents and other citizens have been complaining about for so long, where parks refuses to consider our requests..."

City council member Richard Conlin said he had proposed an amendment that added a second dark night to the regulations for the field but lost the full council vote. Conlin suggested that councilman Steinbrueck clarify for the parks department and residents the intention of the amendment.

"Right now, the council has acted, and I think the only step that could be taken would be if councilmember Steinbrueck, as the author of the amendment, were to tell the parks department that they misinterpreted it," said Conlin.

Steinbrueck could not be reached for comment.

Bounds said the parks department will "closely monitor" the field use and impacts on the neighbors during the next year and possibly make adjustments to the scheduling.

In the meantime, the Loyal Heights Community Council plans to put together an email campaign to city council members.

"So now we try to marshal some email to council asking them to hold the permits for the lights, based on parks continued refusal, by all measures, to really provide for 'meaningful input,'" Anderson said.

The current schedule calls for the field lights to be installed by the end of the year. To review the Loyal Heights playfield Illumination Management Plan or learn more about the project visit www.seattle.gov/parks/proparks/projects/loyalheightsplayfield.htm.