January 24, 2019

Edgewood has had many fine projects, but stadium is not among them

Shawn Schey | Cap Times

Dear Editor: I have lived across from the Edgewood campus for 34 years, and served on the Edgewood-Neighborhood Liaison Committee more than half of those. Since 1995, the neighborhood has said yes to Edgewood’s Sonderegger Science Center, a parking ramp structure, and the Predolin Humanities Center. We have said yes to the Mazzuchelli Biological Station, the Dominican Dorm, an addition to the Campus School, a visual and theatre arts center, and a dorm addition to Regina Hall. We have said yes to parking lot expansions, the high school’s expansion of their commons, and their current fine arts addition, now underway. We have said “Yes-in-my-front-yard” for over 24 years to one project after another.

But the latest stadium proposal is the first project that does not have my support because of how it would irretrievably alter the neighborhood far beyond Edgewood’s own campus. There are no technological “fixes” for the noise a stadium generates, or the lighting that is necessary for chasing a ball in the dark. Sound study consultants are telling us that decibel levels would be as high as 70-85 dBA just from the cheering of a crowd and a referee's whistle, making a conversation in one’s own living room inaudible if a window were open. But what if there’s canned music, or the crowd is bigger than 350? How loud is “loud” going to be?

In the past, Edgewood has sought to co-exist with their neighbors, coming up with good building projects over the years. A new stadium on their campus is not one of them.