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At the center of battle that pitted neighbors of Crystal Lake South High School against school officials and local leaders is a set of bleachers. Really big bleachers. The new stands installed almost three years ago vastly increased the size of the bleachers and placed them much closer to neighboring homes. Here’s how it went down, and just how big those bleachers were. The school and the neighbors took another step toward resolving the conflict this week when the district agreed to pay $273,000 in legal fees.
In 2013, Crystal Lake South High built the new bleachers along the west edge of its football field. The project would nearly double seating and replace an aging press box. But some neighbors said they were never alerted to the project beforehand and took the school district to court.
The new bleachers were big. Twenty-seven rows of seats, 48 feet tall and nearly 200 feet long. The residents suing said the school did not get city permission to build the seats, while the school said it is immune to zoning laws. The case wound through the courts, but the football games went on.
Two key aspects of the size of the bleachers: The height (some neighbors complained of fans looking down into their houses and harassing them), and the reduced space between the rear of the stands and their property (the new bleachers were almost 30 feet closer than the original).
The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court and the court eventually ruled the bleachers must come down. After more haggling, a plan for a smaller set of bleachers has been approved that all sides appear to support.
The new bleachers, due to be installed before the next football season, will more than 25 feet shorter, with 18 fewer rows and will be 40 feet farther away from the neighboring property line with more landscape buffering.
Three sets of bleachers, hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and a winding three-year road to compromise.
Oh yeah, the press box. The new press box on the controversial bleachers was taken down and moved to new, expanded bleachers on the east side of the field, near the school’s tennis courts and not any homes.
Sources: City of Crystal Lake, Tribune reporting