Residents surrounding Helias Catholic High School relayed concerns about the new athletic complex, especially over parking near their homes and impending excavation blasting.
President of Helias the Rev. Stephen Jones and Frank Twehous of Twehous Excavating Company Inc. fielded questions and addressed concerns from the roughly 20 residents attending Wednesday's open house.
Jones briefly went over plans for the more than $10 million athletic complex that will house a football stadium, separate soccer field, eight tennis courts, and a track and field area. Construction has already begun with an estimated completion date of next August.
Several of the attendants were elderly, including Melody Marcantonio's parents, who live on Swifts Highway across from the stadium site. Marcantonio is not a resident of the area but often visits her parents' house to help care for them and attended the meeting.
The driveways attached to many of those homes don't allow for multiple-car parking, she said, so many residents rely on street parking.
"I'm very concerned," she said. "We have four cars at my parents' house at any given time, and we have to be able to get to them. The driveways don't stack cars. I'm sure you'll have Saturday games at some point, and we need to be able to get into the houses. So please get with the city because I'm sure otherwise you'll have people coming out saying this isn't right."
There will be four to six home football games each year, Jones said, and they will try to address parking near the residents.
Administrators talk with students about being respectful of the neighborhood. If residents spot students driving over the speed limit, doing burnouts or other disruptive activity, Jones said to write down their license plate number or as much information about the incident and report it to the school or police.
However, there's nothing Helias can do about visiting students or adults from other schools during games. In those cases, Jones suggested calling the police if there's disruptive traffic.
The addition of the complex will bring more traffic into the area, he said. Helias and the contractors are working with the city to alleviate some of those issues. To address increased traffic, Jones said, they're having conversations with the city about having some sort of traffic diverter or a roundabout on Swifts Highway and Myrtle Street.
"We want to be good neighbors," Jones said. "We want to have parking for events, but we also know you are dealing with the brunt of these events."
Patty Trimble, a resident on Swifts Highway, suggested an alert system for upcoming events that could cause increased traffic or parking congestion. If residents know when events are happening, they can better prepare.
Jones agreed and asked attendants to leave contact information.
She also suggested having a trash pick-up. Trash already is being left behind in the neighborhood, and she said it will be worse when there's a large stadium. If students could come by every week or so and pick up trash around the neighborhood, that would be helpful.
Jones said he was open to the idea as part of some community service, but he couldn't make any promises at the current time.
As far as noise during games, Twehous said the football stadium is a traditional bowl shape with the grandstand facing away from Myrtle Street toward Capital City Christian Church, so the noise shouldn't be too loud. The stadium lights will also be about the height of a street light, so there should be minimal light pollution.
Excavation blasts should start in about two weeks, and residents were concerned about the safety and loudness of the blasts.
Twehous said there will be two blasts a day for about six weeks. Those in close proximity could hear the warning horn blast five, 10 and 15 minutes before the blast. Based on previous projects, Twehous said most people have told him they only notice the warning horn but don't actually hear the blasts.
Residents may feel a low, long rumble, but that won't cause any structural damage or disrupt anything inside the homes.
Jason Turner with the Jefferson City Fire Department oversees blasting done in Jefferson City and attended the meeting. He assured residents there are very strenuous planning and strict safety requirements in the city.
"The department takes this very seriously," he said. "A lot of people have a lot of fear of blasting, but you really don't know that they're blasting unless you're outside. You may see some dust. Here on Fourth of July, there are 10-inch mortars that put off bigger vibrations than the blasting they'll do."
If anyone has concerns or complaints, he urged residents to call the department so they can investigate any issues or put those concerns to rest.
Jones said his next step would also be to take concerns to city officials and begin finding solutions so Helias can "be the best neighbor we can be." He was expecting issues to arise during this process, which is why he wanted a forum for locals to air their grievances.