Kelsey Davis has just about reached her sound tolerance limit from near-constant alarm sirens from her 320,000-square-foot neighbor.
Davis, an Evanston resident living about a block south of Ryan Field — Northwestern University’s newly opened $875 million football stadium — said she’s heard its fire alarm systems intermittently going off for more than a month.
“I want to say that (it started) in late August or early September, because I would come home from picking my son up from school and we noted it was like multiple days in a row,” Davis said.
“There was a day they let us all know they were testing it, but it had been going off before then,” she added. “It’s been going off a lot longer than I think Northwestern would probably admit to.”
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Noise concerns took a front seat in the myriad grievances the stadium received from its Evanston and Wilmette neighbors in the lead up to its Oct. 2 grand opening.
Besides unavoidable construction sounds over the past two years, neighbors worried about the non-football-related events the university planned to host at the venue. Because of the pushback, Ryan Field said it would host only up to six additional concerts per year and would delay those shows to summer 2027.
No one could have predicted, however, that its alarm testing would ruffle so many feathers.
Mary Beth Rothe, whose home sits directly behind the Big Ten stadium on Eastwood Avenue, said the constant beeping “has been awful” ever since it began.
“The alarm goes off all day long, it’s loud and annoying. It makes no sense,” Rothe told Pioneer Press. “Why would testing go on for weeks on end?”
In a statement from the city of Evanston, officials said city code requires that every individual fire alarm device in a newly constructed building, during the initial testing phase, be tested to fully activate the alarm system and its audible alerts.
Officials sent an initial email notice to residents on Sept. 30 about Ryan Field’s ongoing alarm testing, clarifying that contractors would conduct the first round of weekly fire alarm tests and complete them by Oct. 9.
But the cacophonous alarms didn’t end there.
The next round of acceptance testing kicked off Monday by Evanston’s Fire Department. The city said the department’s alarm testing is expected to take “at least one week to complete.”
Interim fire Chief Matt Smith told Pioneer Press if all goes according to plan, their alarm testing would actually end a few days after that, on or around Wednesday, Oct. 21.
“The fire protection and alarm system at Ryan Field contains over 1,000 required devices,” Smith said. “This process takes time.”
“Building codes and the National Fire Protection Association standards require that each device is activated and fully tested including audible alerts in order to assure the devices are installed correctly and are fully operational.”
100 years reborn, Northwestern’s Ryan Field opens to wows and a deafening din
Smith added that the installation contractor must complete the process before the Fire Department, which has jurisdiction over the area.
City Manager Luke Stowe mandated that the stadium’s alarm testing be limited to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Stowe said the direction is intended to “minimize the impact on the community while allowing the required testing to continue and the project be completed in accordance with applicable safety codes.”
But neighboring residents like Davis said the university hasn’t held true to that promise.
“There was one day I was working in (my) garden until it got dark, so that must have been like seven or so, and they were still working on it. It was still going off,” she recalls.
“We fully acknowledge the fire alarm noise is intrusive,” a spokesperson for Ryan Field said in a statement, “but it is necessary to certify that the fire protection and alarm systems are installed and function properly for public safety during stadium events.”
Neighboring residents took their complaints a step further Wednesday, turning out to the city’s Ryan Field Community Advisory Council meeting to take aim at Northwestern’s alarm systems and the overall sound levels many deem “excessive” since the stadium opened.
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“There’s a number of issues that have been raised over the last few weeks. … I think the No. 1 issue is sound and volume,” Stowe said at the meeting.
“My recommendation for tonight would be to simply hold Northwestern accountable … to the limits that are set in either city code or the MOU (memorandum of understanding).”
After much deliberation, advisory panel leaders voted to limit amplified sound at Ryan Field during the 60 non-football-related events slated to be hosted there each year.
The move follows excessive complaints stemming from a recent student pep rally and the two football games so far.
Sound limits are now set at 80 decibels for interior stadium noise and 70 decibels for noise extending to the property line. Stowe said the city also plans to install its own noise-monitoring system along the property line.
But residents hoping for a suspension or limit to Ryan Field’s alarm testing may not be so lucky.
“Yes, the alarm testing is annoying. I work from home in my office on the east side of the house and I eye-roll at times,” said Sue Whiting, a 30-year season ticket holder who lives across the west parking lot from the stadium.
“But annoying is superior to a malfunctioning alarm system, especially with over 20,000 high school fans expected tonight. It’s going to be rocking.”
Ryan Field plans to host the annual Evanston Township High School versus New Trier High School football game Friday at 7 p.m.
The sold-out event will likely bring heavy uproar and hubbub to the neighborhood, but thankfully, for many locals near 1501 Central St., it’s a much-needed break from the beeps.