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Lake Zurich High looks to double stadium seating

Lake Zurich Unit District 95 plans to expand bleacher seating and make other improvements at the high school football stadium complex in time for next season.

Under the plan, new bleachers would be built to accommodate 2,500 spectators at Mel Eide Field. That would more than double the current seating capacity of 1,200.

Lake Zurich village board members are expected to address the proposal at a meeting Monday, Jan. 5. Plan commission members have recommended approval of the project, but the village board gets the final word.

District 95 Facilities Director Lyle Erstad said the revamped stadium would have portable end-zone seating and standing areas along with the 2,500-capacity bleachers. He said the stadium also would meet Americans With Disabilities Act standards.

“One of the features of this new stadium complex is we'll be able to load the bleachers not only from the ends as what currently occurs, but also from underneath,” Erstad said in a recent Lake Zurich plan commission public hearing presentation. “You'll have two center walkways.”

About $1.2 million was budgeted for stadium upgrades, some of which were made before the 2014-15 academic year. That work included a new synthetic playing surface, drainage improvements and the creation of a stormwater detention area.

District 95 Superintendent Michael Egan said the new bleachers would be built in the summer as part of the second phase of improvements. He said the complex dates to the 1970s.

Other work would entail new storage units under the bleachers and replacement of security fencing and sidewalks. A new press box would be built as part of the bleachers, which can't exceed 46 feet in height under Lake Zurich's local law.

Erstad said the plan also calls for regrading the girls varsity softball diamond to get rid of a left-field hill. No changes are proposed for the stadium lighting.

Nearby landowners received notice of District 95's bleacher plan so they could raise concerns at the Lake Zurich plan commission public hearing if they wished.

District 95's efforts to contact stadium neighbors was in contrast to how Crystal Lake High School District 155 went about building football stadium bleachers at Crystal Lake South High School in 2013.

The construction led to a lawsuit by neighbors — including McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi — and an eventual court ruling that District 155 officials broke the law when they failed to get city permission for the $1.2 million bleacher expansion.

In November, a state appellate court in Elgin issued a stay of a ruling that the bleachers be torn down. It now is up to the Illinois Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the case.

District 95 approves new synthetic field

Lyle Erstad
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