CSUN Cuts Stadium Plan but the Debate Goes On

On Saturday afternoon, as the air filled with noise from a track meet, and “Viva Las Vegas” blared from the sound system at a baseball game, Dale Dye hung a bright pink sign on the gate to his housing development. The black letters read: “No Stadium in Our Neighborhood.”

Dye’s protest came even after Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson removed plans for a 15,000-seat stadium from a master plan for future development at the university. That plan is expected to be approved Tuesday by California State University trustees.

CSUN spokesman John Chandler said Friday the university had decided to postpone a final decision on the size and location of the stadium but remains committed to its football program. Homeowners near the proposed stadium site--next to the corner where Lindley Avenue and Halsted Street both end--say the fight over a new football stadium at CSUN is far from over.

“We haven’t heard the end of the stadium,” Dye said. “And it’s also not the only problem we’ve got with the university’s plans.”

The decision not to include the new stadium in the current proposal leaves the university with no long-range plans for a new football arena on campus. North Campus Stadium, a 6,000-seat venue that dates to 1944, is set to be demolished within the next several years to make way for academic buildings and a biotechnical park.

Local homeowners had threatened earlier in the week to sue the university in an effort to block construction of the new stadium. A lawsuit would also threaten construction of the university’s North Campus project, an ambitious 65-acre development that would include a biotechnical park, film and television sound stages and academic buildings.

Dye said he and other neighbors plan to attend the Tuesday meeting at the chancellor’s office in Long Beach to monitor the university’s stand. The group also objects to a planned parking garage on Halsted Street that they contend would make an already congested and dangerous traffic corridor worse.

But some community members feel strongly that the stadium should go forward. Chamber of commerce leaders from Chatsworth, Northridge and Granada Hills are planning to attend the meeting to voice support.

Bob Cooper, who came out Saturday to watch the Northridge baseball team play, said he believes the school needs a new football stadium. Cooper, whose son is an assistant baseball coach, said the university’s willingness to remove the stadium from its proposal is only the latest sign that the school has little interest in athletics.

In 1997, Wilson cut some of the school’s most successful and popular men’s sports programs including baseball and swimming, to balance the athletic budget and bring the school in line with gender-equity requirements. The sports were reinstated after public criticism.

Dye and other neighbors say they do not oppose sports at the university. But standing on the street where cars regularly make U-turns and double-park while waiting for a parking space, Dye said the area is already inundated with university traffic.

“Part of why I moved into this neighborhood was for a collegiate atmosphere,” said Dye, who has lived in the area 10 years. “But it has turned into a bit of a zoo.”