Thursday, November 15, 2001

City approves zoning change for baseball stadium
By Jordan Blum
Staff Reporter

Local resident Grayson Harper said he remembers when all that used to be across the street from his house was a golf course.

No highway. No Berry Street.

Now TCU is about to build Charles and Marie Lupton Baseball Stadium across from his home and Harper is one of a group of neighbors who expressed concern to the Fort Worth City Council that the new stadium will invade their privacy and right to peace within their homes.

The council unanimously passed a zoning change at a meeting Tuesday night giving TCU the right to proceed with construction after hearing from a team of university representatives and several neighborhood residents both for and against the new stadium.

Ross Bailey, associate athletics director for operations and facilities, said the meeting and vote was necessary in order to get permission to put in higher light poles and that with permission granted construction will begin either immediately after Thanksgiving break or during the first week of December.

Bailey said with new development zoning, university officials are able to draw out detailed plans of the stadium down to the landscaping in order to alleviate potential concerns.

“We’re not going to put up an eyesore,” Bailey said. “(The stadium) is going to have detailed landscaping and it will be blocked off from the neighborhood with brick and iron fencing.”

Bailey said a team led by Willett Stallworth, associate vice chancellor for plant management, made presentations to the council and neighbors to alleviate concerns about lights, traffic and noise.

“Stallworth’s group did a lot of studies on light and noise really everyone understand the problems won’t be nearly what some people think they will be and to help people realize the stadium isn’t just what’s best for TCU but for the entire neighborhood,” Bailey said.

However, Harper attended the meeting and said it did little to help him feel better about a new baseball stadium.

“There’s not much they could do to appease my concerns unless they decided to make it a park,” Harper said. “Out of all places, I think people should have the right to privacy in their own homes away from the bright lights, traffic and sounds a stadium will bring.

“I know the university is doing a good job with landscaping and a state-of-the-art sound system so it won’t be too obnoxious,” he said. “But a little obnoxious is bad enough.”

Harper also said the council got defensive when he pointed out that several of them are TCU alumni.

Kristi Wiseman, aide for Councilwoman Wendy Davis (District 9), said local residents primarily had “what if” concerns about potential concerts and year-round baseball clinics in the stadium and that they just need to be informed to ease their concerns.

“There was a negative vibe that many of the folks on the council bleed purple and some residents were concerned their opinions wouldn’t be considered,” Wiseman said. “But it’s TCU’s property and they can do what they want and they bent over backwards to try and appease the neighbors.”

Brad Wallace, another local resident, said he is excited about the prospect of being in a neighborhood with a baseball field nearby.

“I think any neighbor has to realize our property value has been maintained or raised by things the university has done,” Wallace said. “I understand the concerns some people have, but I think once the field is built and night games are played, people will understand and see what a great atmosphere it is.

“It may appear a stadium will be detrimental now, but the structure planning is very appealing and the lights will only enhance the view of the university,” he said. “Plus, this is only 20 night games maximum we’re talking about out of 365 day in a year, so it won’t be that big of a deal.”

Jordan Blum
j.d.blum@student.tcu.edu