City Council Approves Amended CUP for Koret Field

After a meeting pierced with moments of tension among the councilmembers, Notre Dame de Namur University officials and residents who live near NDNU's Koret Field, the City Council on Tuesday further amended and finally passed a Conditional Use Permit for the field.

The changes the council made on Tuesday night catered to both the university and the residents who live nearby and say the noise on the sports field is unbearable.

The version of the is attached to this article as a PDF. Below is a list of the changes to that amended permit, which the council ultimately adopted Tuesday night. The conditions not listed in this article were not changed from the council's original version.

Condition 1: Column 1: The hours for field use Monday through Friday was changed from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. In addition, the last bullet point will now read "No-use Sundays per Condition 7" [see below].

Column 4, 1. Sports: 1. The item shall now read: "When only specifically required by NCAA rules." 3. The item shall now read: "All activities including permitted amplified sound shall comply with the city’s noise ordinance."

Condition 7: The item was scaled back from calling for two no-use Sundays a month for the entire year to one blackout Sunday per month in March, April, May, September, October and November. The remaining six months will still call for two no-use Sundays each month. The no-use days, including holidays, were not changed, and can still count for a no-use Sunday.

Condition 8: For purposes of the condition, the word "youth" was redefined to a "high school student or younger."

Condition 11: This condition, which required NDNU host public meetings with residents to inform them of upcoming events and current operations, was removed.

Condition 13: A sentence was added to the end: "NDNU shall keep and submit to the city twice a year a calendar that specifies times and dates that the field is used."

Just before approving the permit, councilmembers emphasized they had done their best to please both sides but that ultimately it was impossible to give everyone what they wanted.

"I'm glad we finally passed this milestone," Councilmember Christine Wozniak said.

"This has probably been the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in 15 years," Mayor Coralin Feierbach said. "It’s been monumental. I hope this works out," she said, adding that she hopes this process doesn't scar the city's relationship with NDNU.

"I hope that the neighbors as a result feel a little bit better, and I hope NDNU feels better," Councilmember David Braunstein said. "There’s some alleviation of problems."

Vice Mayor Dave Warden apologized to all three parties affected by the permit process -- the university, the youth sports groups and the neighbors.

"I think I've let all of you down, but I've done the best I can do," Warden said.

NDNU spokesman Richard Rossi said after the meeting that the university will take its time reviewing the effects of the changes to the amended permit the council approved before the university decides whether to stick with its current permit from 2005.

"They did make some improvements," Rossi said, adding, though, that the university still wasn't entirely satisfied with the .

Resident Gordon Seely, who lives near Koret Field and was among the group who filed the appeal against the Planning Commission's version of the permit, said he was pleased with most of the changes the council made Tuesday night.

"I think the council did a good job in a difficult situation," Seely said. "None of the parties are entirely satisfied, but that's the nature of working it out."