Elk Grove High to get new field lights

Elk Grove High School’s football field will soon be lit by four new light poles, including one with Verizon Wireless antennas mounted on top.

In October, Northwest Suburban High School District 214 school board approved the contract with Verizon Wireless for the new light poles/cell towers for Elk Grove and Wheeling high schools that will double as moneymakers.

The Elk Grove Village board is expected to officially approve the new lights at its June 21 meeting.

The proposed 100-foot pole with the wireless antennas will dwarf the six roughly 65-foot existing light poles that have been in place since the school opened in 1966. The three remaining poles will be 80 feet tall.

“Higher is way better,” Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said. “If you’re higher you get to shoot the light downward. Our residents that abut the football field will not have to have the light spillage that they have endured for the last 45 years” with the lower poles.

The village board last month gave Verizon a green light to move ahead with the plans after a unanimous recommendation by the plan commission to approve the special-use and zoning variations.

“The residents are all excited by the prospect … and with the support of the people it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion,” Johnson said.

The poles will be erected along the sidelines of the football field and be operational in time for the start of the football season Aug. 19.

Wheeling High School’s new cell tower also is expected to be about 100 feet tall and will be erected on the east side of its football field.

Verizon will pay District 214 a one-time setup fee, plus $2,500 a month rent at each school, with an annual rent increase of 3 percent. The deal is expected to generate more than $1.5 million for the district over 25 years.

Clearwire Communications and T-Mobile have approached the district for a similar deal at Prospect High School that could generate a similar amount of revenue.