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Some say football, Jacksonville don't mix City considers stadium request By MELISSA MARTIN JACKSONVILLE -- A dozen residents voiced opposition Wednesday night to Cascade Christian High School's plans to play Friday night football in Jacksonville. The football lights would be too bright, too tall and too modern for a historic town, and teenagers might cruise in their cars after a big game, residents said. "Imagine a football field in the middle of an historic town," said Phil Gahr, a Placer Hill Drive resident. "You're talking about a Costco parking lot in downtown Jacksonville," he said, adding that he is a parent with students at St. Mary's School, Cascade's football rival. The planning commission voted to continue deliberations at its March 10 meeting. Residents can submit written comments for the next 10 days to Jacksonville City Hall. Cascade Christian plays at the Veterans Affairs Domiciliary in White City now but wants to build the stadium next to the school at the south end of Jacksonville. Its plans include bleachers to seat about 600 people, a press box, a snack shack, dugouts and 1,500-watt stadium lights. The lights would be used for six football games in September and October and 10 baseball games in the spring. "We like to be good neighbors," said Cascade football coach Andy Maurer. "This is the same process we have gone through every step of the way with the school, getting community input, working with the city staff, collecting good ideas and coming up with something that will work," he said. He said the light poles planned for the field wouldn't disrupt a Jacksonville landscape that is already filled with poles for electrical, telephone and cable wires. "Five more poles won't impact the skyline or destroy the neighborhood," Maurer said. "And as far as using the lights, it cost a lot to run 1,500-watt lights, so we won't be flipping them on anytime we feel like it." Of the 25 people in the audience, seven spoke against Cascade's plans, four wrote letters in opposition and three spoke in support of the football field. "It's one more loss in our historic landmark," said Desmond Armstrong, a Fir Street resident. "Cascade has been a good citizen and I hate to disappoint them, but the impact is much too great. A thousand people coming to a football game is half the population of Jacksonville." Elizabeth VanBuskirk, a Vintage Circle resident and a Jacksonville business owner, asked the planning commission to hold the school to the same standard as the city holds merchants. "I can't even put a small electric `open' sign in my window, so I don't understand how the planning commission can consider something like a football stadium," VanBuskirk said. Resident Jim Curtis called it a "big-city project in a small town." Dan Downs of Eoff Electric, speaking for Cascade Christian, told the commissioners the stadium lights were designed efficiently. "It's like a flashlight pointing toward the ground," Downs said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA