After nearly two hours of debate pro and con plans to build a new Benet Academy football/sports stadium, Lisle Mayor Mary Jo Mullen said a compromise is needed.
Benet representatives and residents need to meet with village officials “to find an alternative” before the issue returns to the Lisle Village Board in March.
“I really want us to continue working together (to) see if we can get closer together,” said Mullen, who lives in Oak Hill South, the subdivision that shares a property line with Benet and whose residents will be in closest proximity to the proposed venue.
Twenty-six people addressed the issue — 16 opposed it and 10 in support.
The private high school, which draws a large number of students from Naperville, is seeking village permission to build a 1,900-seat football stadium to replace the one near Maple Avenue and Cascade Drive, which is no longer used for varsity football and has been described by Benet officials as a “relic of the 1960s.”
Opponents don’t like the plan because it’s so close to residential property, with some homes just 86 feet away. The lights and noise resulting from games and practice sessions will affect their quality of life, they say.
Benet officials said lights will be needed 54 nights each year, and they’ve agreed to limitations on time, light usage and sound levels.
Two opponents said even the sound limits the school had agreed to were too high, and demonstrate loud it could be.
After Mike Krzywosz set a decibel meter in front of the mayor, Danielle Appello began banging on a snare drum.
“For your enjoyment,” he said as he played a tape of a random game.
The drum echoed loudly in the room with doors closed.
Mullen said the decibel meter was at 85 when the recording played and “jumped up between 90 and 102 with the snare.”
Several opponents wondered why the stadium can’t be built on the east side of the Benet property, closer to Yackley Avenue and farther from homes.
On Tuesday, Benet spokesman Patrick Skarr said that is not an option.
“The primary reason the school has not proposed locating the stadium along the eastern boundary is that the property is subject to a legal covenant that prohibits certain construction in that location,” Skarr said in an email. “Benet cannot propose a facility in a location where it does not have the legal right to build.”
Benet attorney Caitlin Csuk said the school had made modifications that mirror the concessions Loyola Academy made with its neighbors when it wanted to build a new lighted field.
Opponents said Oak Hill South neighbors live much closer to the proposed Benet site than do residents living near Loyoyla’s stadium.
Amanda McIntyre, who lives in Oak Hill South, said she has no problem with Benet’s plans.
“We fully support the stadium project,” she said, citing “school spirit and the energy of young people.”
She called the project “a win for Lisle,” noting visitors will spend money in town. Denying the stadium “would be short sighted,” she said.
“Benet Academy is not just a school. It’s a cornerstone of this town,” McIntyre said.
Jim Mocarski, however, noted that the Lisle Village Board in 2002 rejected plans for a lighted football field for Lisle High School. The board cited “light intrusion, dangerous noise levels, negative housing value impacts,” he said.
“(They) were all obvious and significant then, just as they are today,” Mocarski said.
Plans call for installation of two synthetic turf fields, track, stadium lighting, press box, bleachers, long jump and pole-vaulting pit, scoreboard, time clock, modified parking lot, multifunction building and storage buildings. The varsity football team has played its home games at Benedictine University across the street since 2005.
While football will be the big draw, the stadium also will be used for soccer, lacrosse, girls flag football, track matches and physical education classes.
Four student-athletes spoke in favor of the project.
Benet sophomore Luke Crowder, who lives in Oak Hill South, is a wide receiver and cornerback for the football team. “I dreamed of playing for Benet,” he said.
Playing at Benedictine University “doesn’t feel like home,” he said.
Building a stadium would have a “generational impact” and he asked trustees for support of a project “that brings people together.”
But opponent Linda Donahue said her “life and well-being are directly impacted” by the plan.
“Imagine the constant glare of towering lights flooding my home and yard late into the night,” Donahue said. “This is a significant change and disruption.”
Benet officials said the lights will be dimmed right after games and turned off as soon as possible. Donahue countered that a proposed eight-foot fence won’t prevent the lights from illuminating her yard and house for hours, Donahue said.
Games would be played less than 100 feet from her property line, she said.
“Who would want to buy a home with stadium noise and bright lights?” she asked.
There are also concerns about fans parking on Cascade Lane during games.
Benet President Bill Myers and Athletic Director Scott Lawler have said the improvements are long overdue, noting the current stadium was built in 1961, preceding the houses that are now there.
The last update to the existing stadium was the installation of a new track in 1991.
“It’s time to modernize and bring it up to par with other area schools — public or private — lights, turf,” Myers said last week “Our kids need them to compete in a healthy, safe environment.”
After Monday’s meeting, Myers said he looks forward to more meetings with residents and the village.
Following commission meetings that started in July, the school agreed not only to reduce the seating count but to Benet is to provide a plan on how it will deal with overflow parking and work with the police chief on closing Cascade Drive at Maple Avenue to nonresidents when home football games are scheduled, according to village documents.
The majority of games will not be played at night, and Friday night varsity football games may begin as early as 7 p.m., Lawler said last week.
Karen Maguire, who has lived with her husband in Oak Hill for 45 years, said “our son, daughter, daughter-in-law and oldest grandson graduated from Benet” and asked trustees if they’d want to live near the stadium.
But Lisle resident Susan Srail said she was appalled by opposition.
“I think these kids deserve four years. … Everybody wants to walk onto their home field. That’s what high school is about.
“I don’t know what (opponents) are complaining about. It’s not going to destroy their property. It’s 54 days. There are 311 days (in the year) with nothing going on at that field. It’s ridiculous if you turn this down,” Srail said.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
