An application to erect a new football stadium at South Anchorage High School will come before the Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission for a second time Monday after it was rejected earlier this year.
Since the commission's February decision, the Anchorage School District says it has inserted concessions into the application to appease disgruntled neighbors who worry that the stadium will bring unwanted lights, noise and traffic to the residential area. But the president of the Turnagain View Estates Homeowners Association, a nearby neighborhood group, says the district hasn't done enough.
"I'm confident we have a good case to present," said Mike Abbott, the district's chief operating officer. "We're hopeful that the commission supports it."
Items added to the revised plan include coating the bleachers with a material used to dampen sound, building an 8-foot-tall wooden fence along the southwestern portion of the field and constructing the home grandstands into an existing slope to reduce noise from foot stomping, according to the district's application. The additions were discussed as options at a Sept. 30 meeting with neighbors, students and parents at South High.
Last year, Anchorage's Department of Health and Human Services included some of the district's new additions in a letter as recommendations to mitigate noise at the prospective stadium.
In a follow-up letter dated Nov. 10, Tony Barrett, manager of environmental health programs at DHHS, wrote that while full implementation of the noise mitigation measures should significantly reduce the clamor from both the crowd and new sound system, the level of noise could still exceed 60 decibels -- the maximum allowed in residential areas under the municipality's noise ordinance.
Barrett recommended the district restrict the number, length and time of major stadium events, as well as use noise permits to manage impacts on the nearby subdivision.
Abbott said the district will comply with the municipality and obtain permits when and if necessary. The district has proposed limiting the number of evening events at the stadium to 10 a year. All will end by 10 p.m., he said.
But Alex Slivka, president of the Turnagain View Estates Homeowners Association and a vocal critic of the stadium, said Friday that he is still not on board with the project, which he says will violate the noise ordinance and, thus, the law.
"They want to have practice games there, great. The kids want to play on the field, great. That's what it's here for," Slivka said. "But it's not there to be turned into a full-blown commercial enterprise, which is what you get when you have 1,600 people showing up for a game."
As it stands, the district's plan for a stadium includes about 1,200 seats for the home team supporters, 400 seats for the visiting team supporters, a concession stand, electronic scoreboard, a press box, two ticket booths, a sound system, access control fencing, portable toilets and lighting.
South is one of two high schools in the Anchorage School District without a stadium. At the other school, East High, the municipality's Urban Design Commission recently approved the building of a stadium. Construction will begin in spring, Abbott said.
Initial plans for South High -- a nearly 50-acre parcel of land -- called for an on-campus field with few amenities. The football teams play home games at the Anchorage Football Stadium, near Sullivan Arena.
But in 2012, South High booster clubs successfully lobbied the Legislature for $2.2 million to construct bleachers at the school.
If the Planning and Zoning Commission approves the district's revised plan for a stadium, it is unclear if the funds will cover the new amenities, Abbott said.
Monday's meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Z.J. Loussac Public Library. The commission will take public comment and may vote on the project if members don't choose to postpone the vote.
When the stadium came up for a vote in February, four members of the commission voted in favor of the stadium and three against. With two commissioners absent, it was short the five votes required for approval.