My Suburban Life

Lisle commission continues hearing on Benet stadium proposal to another session

To provide students with a modern campus, improve the experience of athletes and spectators attending games, and enhance the safety of hosting events, the leadership of Benet Academy proposes to invest in the campus and modernize its outdated and obsolete stadium and athletic complex. The transformation project benefits students, families, fans, and the greater Lisle community. ÒSince opening our current campus doors in 1956, Benet has continuously invested in its campus to provide students with access to the facilities, faculty, curriculum, and faith-based programs that inspire them to reach their potential, but the one area that has mostly stayed the same is our stadium and athletic fields. WeÕre excited at the opportunity to move our campus and student experience forward by renewing the stadium and bringing the tradition back home to Benet,Ó said Bill Myers, Benet President.

To provide students with a modern campus, improve the experience of athletes and spectators attending games, and enhance the safety of hosting events, the leadership of Benet Academy proposes to invest in the campus and modernize its outdated and obsolete stadium and athletic complex. The transformation project benefits students, families, fans and the greater Lisle community. ÒSince opening our current campus doors in 1956, Benet has continuously invested in its campus to provide students with access to the facilities, faculty, curriculum, and faith-based programs that inspire them to reach their potential, but the one area that has mostly stayed the same is our stadium and athletic fields. WeÕre excited at the opportunity to move our campus and student experience forward by renewing the stadium and bringing the tradition back home to Benet,Ó said Bill Myers, Benet President.

By Dave Oberhelman – Daily Herald Media Group

A hearing before the Lisle Planning and Zoning Commission on Benet Academy’s proposal to improve its athletic stadium and grounds has been continued to next month.

Commission Chair Mary Lynn Zajdel set the next session for Sept. 17 at Lisle Village Hall.

Phil Luetkehans, the attorney representing neighbors opposed to the plan, must present his case and cross-examine those who’ve provided testimony on Benet’s behalf.

The commission makes recommendations for or against a proposal. Lisle’s board will then consider it.

On Wednesday, Benet Academy’s attorney Caitlin Csuk and project consultants continued to state their case, providing clarity on aspects plan commissioners questioned at the July 17 meeting.

One topic was whether the stadium — “a relic from 65 years ago” that is “virtually unusable,” Csuk said — could be relocated to the southeast corner of the property, at Yackley and Maple avenues.

Csuk said an agreement between Benet and St. Procopius Abbey, southeast of the school, prohibits new structures to be built at that corner. Improvements to a current soccer field just east of the football stadium would be allowed, Csuk said, in phase two of the project.

Geography also precludes the stadium from shifting east, Csuk explained with diagrams, as it would butt against a water main easement, Benet’s interior driveways and, in one case, Yackley Avenue.

Benet sound engineer Tim Eldridge said for Benet’s four to seven annual football games, the most highly attended of the roughly 55 annual athletic contests projected to use stadium lighting and speakers, crowd noise and the sound system would produce about 83 decibels at the property line, 95 feet from the back of the bleachers.

“Which is like a hair dryer,” Eldridge said.

Less-attended events would emit about 65 decibels, he said, a little above normal conversation.

Development Services Director Michael Smetana said school athletic events in Lisle are exempt from sound regulation before 10 p.m.

In an effort to reduce late-night noise, sound and traffic, Benet will start football games a half-hour earlier — 4:30 p.m. for underclass games and 7 p.m. for varsity.

That was one of 18 “compromises” the school has made to its initial 2024 proposal. Those include reducing the stadium’s scale and height, lowering the height of existing parking lot light poles, not renting the stadium to outside users, enhanced landscaping on Benet’s western border, and avoiding scheduling other large school events on the same night as football games.

Public comment was nearly split between supporters and objectors. Concern remains about a “hard stop” of football at 10 p.m., as Oak Hill South resident Jay Lumkes said.

Benet Academy Principal Bill Myers ended the presentation by thanking all involved in the process including the plan commissioners.

“I believe we share a common goal — a stronger, more vibrant Lisle,” he said. “And I’m confident the plan we’ve advanced tonight achieves that vision.”

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