August 21, 2007
Oshkosh City Manager
Dear Council Members and City Manager Wollangk:
RE: Update on Oshkosh Sports
Complex and the University’s Future Plans
Given some recent citizen
questions, I thought it would be an appropriate time to update all of you on
the status of the Oshkosh Sports Complex (OSC). I would like to emphasize
some of the less visible of the $5 million of improvements largely funded by
private contributions over the past few years.
As you know, the scheduling of the OSC is controlled by the community of
Oshkosh namely through the Oshkosh Area School District (both West and North
High Schools and middle schools), The Unified Catholic School District and the
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. The timing of events occurring at the
OSC is thoroughly discussed and vetted with representatives from each entity
through the OSC Advisory Committee, which also includes a representative from
the Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau. The private fundraising for
improvements however, has fallen largely on the shoulders of UW Oshkosh
Foundation which has cause for concern since the completion of the project,
including the addition of the women’s locker rooms, more and better restroom facilities and the courtyard, must be funded
from additional gift or community dollars.
You have only to follow the
In terms of the operation and management of the facility, the OSC Advisory
Committee has held three open forums in the community over the last four (4)
years to gain advice and understand concerns regarding proposed usage and
improvements to the OSC. These have included a major drainage improvement
project ($60,000), a fence along the perimeter of the complex to reduce or
eliminate cutting through yards ($30,000), the planting of mature trees along
northern edge of the property to block light from the football field ($10,000),
and adjusting grounds crew work schedule so as not to start noisy work before
7:00 a.m. Attached is a list of the meetings and issues discussed, as well as
their resolution.
As you can see from the notes, the OSC Advisory Committee listened to the
neighbor(s) and adjusted plans accordingly. There are certainly times
when events go longer than expected due to inclement weather or tie games going
into overtime. As a result, because of requests from neighbors as well,
the debris from the stands needs to be collected and removed immediately in
order to reduce the possibility of spillage into neighbor’s yards overnight. We are also planning to construct a new
parking lot in the near future to reduce dust.
Some neighbor(s) have brought concerns to individuals at the university and
school districts regarding noise violations and light spillage. Those concerns
were, in most cases, addressed immediately through personal contact with the
complainant. It should also be noted here that the more than $300,000 replacing
the old stadium lights dramatically reduced light spillage. We will schedule
another open forum meeting this fall for the neighbors and anyone else who
would like to attend. We will continue to respond and address neighbors’ concerns to the best
of our ability while developing a
world-class venue for all the citizens of
With respect to the overall direction of the University, we would be more than
happy to schedule a workshop with the Council to provide updates, answer
questions and obtain advice regarding the more than $200 million of facilities
improvements for 2000 to 2010. We would like to discuss the status of future
plans for your University including its Growth Agenda, and to talk about how to
continue to increase the University’s economic impact, which currently amounts to approximately $500 million
generating directly and indirectly 9,000 jobs. We also seek an
opportunity to acknowledge the state and the University’s annual $720,000 check to help offset the city’s costs of serving the state’s third largest university.
In conclusion, we are committed to being good partners and neighbors in our
home town, and we look forward to keeping open our lines of communication with
you and our neighbors. Please feel free to call me at 424-0200 if you
have additional questions and/or would like to schedule the workshop mentioned
above.
Sincerely,
Richard H. Wells
Chancellor
Enc
CC: Tony Blando, President,
Unified Catholic Schools of Oshkosh
Ronald Heilmann, Superintendent, Oshkosh Area School District
Oshkosh Area School District Board
UW Oshkosh Chancellor’s Staff
UW Oshkosh Foundation Board
Chancellor’s
Council of Advisors
UW Oshkosh U-PLAN Council
Convention Visitors Bureau
1) Explain your proposed plan and why you are
requesting a variance
The
2) Describe how the variance would not have an adverse
effect on surrounding properties.
The university plans on
installing an environmentally friendly lighting system from Musco
Lighting Inc. called Light-Structure Green.
According to the manufactures literature, “Advancements in the reflector
design reduce offsite spill light by 50% over our previous, industry –leading
light control system.” The superior
light control provided by this product addresses three areas of concern:
* Neighbors: Light-Structure Green custom fits light
onto the field, keeping the light
out of neighbors windows.
* Sky glow: The reflector reduces upward light,
protecting the beauty of the dark skies.
* Aesthetics: Light –Structure Green’s structural
design and light clarity make the system
aesthetically pleasing.
In addition, the operation of
these lighting systems will be computer controlled and will only be scheduled
when the fields are in use.
3) Describe the special
conditions that apply to your lot or structure that do not apply to surrounding
lots or structures
Surrounding lots are
primarily residential. This subject
property is zoned R-5 PUD. The Oshkosh
Sports Complex consists of 36 acres of land that are designated for use by the
university for athletic purposes. Other
facilities on the property include the Titan Stadium and the J.J. Keller Field , both of which are served by sports lighting.
4) Describe the hardship that would result if your
variance were not granted.
The
Lighting could be installed
at the 45’ height limitation, however, this would increase the horizontal orientation of
lights and would actually increase the amount of light spillage beyond the
limits of the subject field. The higher
the lights are located, the more vertical the lighting becomes, and the greater
the ability to focus the light on the field.
In addition, installing the lights at the 45’ limitation would require
more fixtures and poles, at a greater expense.
The fields would also be substandard in that the light fixtures would
shine into the players eyes.
Open Forum Regarding the Baseball Field Lights
Variance
Neighbors Concerns:
1. The Football lights are too bright, light shines in their homes.
2. The Football stadium speaker system is on too often. High schools play rap and Hip hop music, it is vulgar. Music is played late a night. The music is too loud.
3. Double header
football games go on too late into the evening.
With cleanup the lights are on until
4. After
football games, the cleanup crew uses leaf blowers that are noisy. This goes on until
5. The grounds crew starts too early. They should not be mowing or using weed
eaters before
University Actions under consideration:
1. Take light meter readings at night to determine light levels at the perimeter of property. (done).
2. Contact Musco Lighting to adjust lights, if necessary. (Given the low meter readings, .5 Foot candle – this is not necessary.)
3. Purchase and install trees along the property line to buffer the area.
4. Install fence along the property line.
5. Shut down lights on stadium side for cleanup after games.
6. Make adjustments to the stadium cleaning process to be more efficient. Possibilities include:
a) Asking spectators to leave the stands after the game so cleaning can begin promptly.
b) Purchase of automated cleaning equipment.
c) Install drains in the stadium walkway.
7.
Titan Stadium
Community Meeting
Meeting Minutes
Meeting Location: Reeve Union Wisconsin Room
Meeting Time: 7:00 p.m.
Meeting Date: 6/7/04
University Representatives
Tom Sonnleitner
Steve Arndt
Al Ackerman
Tom Keefe
1) Tom Sonnleitner started meeting by welcoming everyone and then provided a review of the campus master plan.
2) Al Ackerman followed with a talk detailing the specifics of the current project.
3) Tom Sonnleitner opened up the talk to allow questions from the audience of approximately twenty participants (unfortunately a sign in sheet was not utilized). Listed below are the questions and answers, when given:
a) The gravel lots and roads near the homes on
Tom S: Eventually the lots would be paved, in the interim, we will look into dust suppression methods.
b) What are the intentions for the practice fields
immediately adjacent to the homes on
Al A: They will continue to be used as practice fields for the near future.
c) Will we ever have loud concerts like Summerfest at the stadium?
Tom S: That would be highly unlikely
d) What about a buffer of trees along the practice fields? This was promised in the past.
Tom S: We will look into
this.
e) The drainage ditch that runs past the residents homes on Taft has not been maintained very well, hasn’t been mowed in over a month.
Steve A. indicated that
we would look into this issue and try to improve the drainage
f) During football games, people park on Taft and Josslyn and are rude, and leave garbage, and trespass.
Tom Keefe: We are
working with Zion Lutheran and Banks to have more people park in existing lots.
Al Ackerman: We are
working on having more shuttles from campus to the stadium.
g) Residents are worried that property values will drop due to the excessive parking that typically occurs on Friday nights.
h) Will events at the stadium continue to be non-alcohol and non smoking?
i) What is the anticipated total number of events that will occur after renovations are complete?
Al A: 65
j) Will you keep us informed? We hate to find out about things at the last minute.
k) The Cancer event on the old track – they play loud music all night long. The speakers are now faced towards the homes – this is very bad. They provided no information about the event in advance, in the past they distributed flyers.
l) At a
Tom Keefe finished the
discussion by pledging that we would do a better job of communicating with the
residents.
Titan Stadium Community Meeting
June 22, 2005
Meeting Minutes
The meeting was held at the Pollack House on the
Dr. Garb began the meeting by passing out an agenda. He thanked all in attendance and recognized several community leaders including Shirley Maddox and Brian Bain of the Oshkosh City Council and Stan Spanbauer of the Catholic Schools System. Dr. Garb briefly walked through the agenda and asked the audience to hold questions until the end of the presentation of information.
1. Drainage
Steven Arndt provided an update on efforts to correct a long standing drainage issue affecting neighbors on the north border of the property. After this issue was brought to the attention of university officials last year, funds were requested from the state to correct the situation. In December of 2004 a Civil Engineering Firm, MSA Professional Engineers, located in Beaver Dam, WI was selected to design a solution to the problem. A plan was developed to improve the drainage along the property line and to divert water from adjacent practice fields away from the existing drainage ditch to another city storm sewer. The project is currently out to bid with bid results due June 23rd and is expected to be performed within the next four to six weeks. Elliot Garb added that a six foot chain link fence will be installed along the edge of the practice field in order to protect the safety of the athletes. Residents expressed their satisfaction with this information.
2. Loud Music
Elliott Garb spoke next about neighborhood concerns
regarding loud disruptive music being played over the stadium speaker
system. He related that the City of
Evon Van Ornum stated that the music was a problem during the warm up period prior to sports events, she also referred to a noisy football practice at 5:30 in the morning.
Al Ackerman apologized for that 5:30 incident. He explained that he was not notified by the football coach that the practice was going to occur. He stated that sports teams will not practice that early in the future.
Evon Van Ornum also indicated that university lawn mowers running at 6:00 a.m. were also quite disruptive.
Steve Arndt stated that he would direct the grounds staff to delay the mowing of the football practice fields until 7:00 a.m.
Evon Van Ornum stated that the high school soccer games were the loudest.
Al Ackerman stated that in one instance there was no adult supervision and that the students turned up the volume way too high. He stated that he was meeting with a facility users group and will recommend that if there is no adult supervision, then there will be no use of the sound system.
Jack Lange asked if it was possible to plant arbor vitae along the new fence to help absorb the sound.
Elliott Garb stated that this would be taken under consideration, but that funding was very tight.
3. Parking
The final item on the agenda related to resident concerns about spectator parking for events. Elliott Garb stated that the university was in the process of developing a plan for addressing community concerns, but that the plan was not fully developed at this point, and would require review by City officials. When the plan was fully developed, another meeting would be scheduled for the community. He did mention that the core idea of the plan was that there would be no on street parking during any event at the stadium, but that residents would be issued several passes that would allow for visitors to park on the street at that time. There was a lengthily discussion about this topic:
Dan Van Ornum stated that he did not mind people parking on the street in front of his house if they would be respectful of his property. He said that people cut through his yard, and damaged his property. He stated that he spent several thousand dollars installing a fence on his property to prevent this from occurring. He stated that there is a lot of chaos and that it was very dangerous for pedestrians.
Jack Lange added that people park in front of fire hydrants
and block intersection cross walks. He
said that he has had no luck in getting the City of
Evon Van Ornum stated that she felt that the University was in effect running a business and asked why the university was not forced to provide adequate parking. She started that this was a safety issue. She said that she read that the facility may host the state track meet that may draw 17,000 spectators and asked where were all these people going to park?
Elliott Garb responded to these concerns by stating that under the plan, event spectators will be required to pay for parking in area lots. He said that City help may be needed to get more police/traffic management support. Al Ackerman added that for the large events shuttle busses may be employed.
Stan Spanbauer said that spectator
parking around stadiums throughout
4. Open Discussion
Elliot Garb opened up the discussion to any and all questions. There were several;
Jack Lange mention that the gravel lots create a dust problem. When people drive over the gravel, dust clouds rise up and drift onto his property. In addition, there is a lot of trash after events and often that trash blows onto his property.
Al Ackerman stated that he hopes to install fences around the entire property, and that this will help control access. He also mentioned that the fences may help catch some of the trash so that it can be picked up.
Jack Lange then asked when would the old light poles be removed?
Al Ackerman stated that they would be gone by July 19th.
Elliott Garb interjected at this point to state two things
1) We will treat the gravel to prevent dust
2) We will install more garbage receptacles to help address the trash issue.
Shirley Mattox commented that she lives on
Brad Jadaski, of
The meeting concluded at approximately 8:30 p.m.