Neighbors cry foul over St. Viator plans for sports complex

Neighbors of St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights raised concerns at the Nov. 21 Village Board meeting about a proposed sports complex, saying it could disrupt the surrounding neighborhood.
Terrance Sherwin, who lives on Dryden Avenue — across the street from the Catholic high school — told the board he was worried about the proposed 2,000-seat, open-air sports complex with proposed 80-foot light poles for night games, 25-feet-high netting, lit scoreboards and a public address system.
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“St. Viator says this sports complex is needed to help the growing needs of the St. Viator community and local secondary education landscape but the only benefit is the St. Viator bottom line,” Sherwin said. “They’re willing, wanting and waiting to permanently disrupt, ignore and inconvenience the general welfare and well being of the surrounding neighborhood.”
According to the St. Viator website, the high school is conducting a capital fundraising campaign which includes a $12 million to $15 million goal for “campus athletics upgrades to reorient and redesign the backyard space to accommodate four athletic fields for softball, baseball and two football/soccer/lacrosse fields, high-performance field turf, netting, scoreboards, dugouts and allow for inclusion of lights and stands, pending village approval.”
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For decades, the high school has been renting or leasing other complexes in the village and surrounding areas to accommodate athletic training and competitions.
Sherwin said the needs of St. Viator’s athletic programs shouldn’t outweigh the wellbeing of the surrounding neighborhood and this proposed sports complex would seriously impact the area.
“The village cannot ignore the neighbor’s voices and the surrounding area,” Sherwin said.
Mayor Tom Hayes assured him the board would hear neighbors’ concerns and that the project is in the very early stages of review and approval by the village.
“We’ve seen some preliminary plans but it has not come to us formally at the Village Board level for any consideration,” Hayes said. “There’s going to be plenty of opportunity for the public to weigh in and for us to consider all of the issues.”
Sherwin interrupted Hayes asking how St. Viator’s proposal could be mitigated.
“We can’t stop them from submitting a proposal,” Hayes said. “I can assure you this board will look very carefully at all of the issues you’ve raised tonight and other people have raised in the last couple of weeks. We’re going to listen and carefully review, I can’t guarantee anything more than that now.”
Hayes and other trustees explained the review process and the opportunity for residents to attend public hearings on the proposal during the three- to six-month review process.
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Charles Perkins, village director of planning and community development, confirmed only a conceptual plan of the project was reviewed by the conceptual plan review committee.
“The staff development committee issued a report identifying a number of issues that needed to be studied if St. Viator submits a formal application,” Perkins said. “They have not submitted a formal application at this time.”
If and when St. Viator does submit a formal application, a notice of a public hearing on the proposal will be sent out to property owners who live within 250 feet of the property, officials said.
Officials from St. Viator could not be immediately reached for comment on the residents’ concerns.
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.