Panel Passes on a Stadium Site Decision

After nine emotionally charged public meetings, a Cal State Northridge committee voted Thursday to pass the buck on whether a new football stadium should be built on the campus or in Woodland Hills.

The committee, formed to solve the quarrel over the stadium site, instead sent both options to CSUN President Blenda Wilson, who will make the final choice.

The decisionless vote “was the best we could do,” said committee member Judy Nutter of the university’s community relations office.

Homeowners were pleasantly surprised by the unexpected move, since many said they expected the 12-member Athletic Facilities Siting Committee to recommend the proposed sports stadium be built on campus.

“I’m happy with it,” said Anita Santospirito, 62, a Northridge resident who opposes the on-campus stadium. “At least it was done fairly. They were forced to do it fairly because of community participation. If the community did not participate in these numbers, it would have gone their way.”

The committee voted to recommend that an 8,500-seat stadium be located on the north end of the campus, between Lindley and Zelzah avenues, south of the current football field, or that a stadium be built off-campus at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

In an unusual move, the committee also voted to include in its report that the homeowners favor the Pierce College site.

Four major homeowner groups have opposed the campus site, complaining of the noise and traffic that would result.

The advisory committee--made up of homeowners, community representatives, faculty and administrators--had earlier scaled down the project from the original proposal for a 15,000-seat stadium to one with 8,500 seats.

John Chandler, a spokesman for the university, stressed the final decision is still to come.

“This isn’t the end of the process,” Chandler said. “It’s just another step in the process, in the sense that the committee is an advisory group and they will have to write a report . . . and submit it to President Wilson.”

Effectively, Wilson was not only left to make the decision but to be held solely accountable for it, said opponents of an on-campus stadium.

“The administration now will have to make a decision, instead of making the committee a scapegoat,” said Bob LoPresti, one of two homeowner representatives on the panel.

He said he expects that Wilson will eventually decide to build the stadium on campus.

At that point, he said, homeowner groups would pursue legal action against the project. They argue the football stadium will be used not only for college sports but for concerts and other community events.

“Nobody’s got any delusions that this is for the occasional football game,” said Dick Dardarian, 61. “They’re going to rent it out for rock concerts. It’s going to be a madhouse out there.”

Nutter suggested an events committee made up of concerned homeowners could advise the university on acceptable stadium events.

But she said such a committee should have “no veto power.” Homeowners complained such a committee would be too powerless to be of any use.

More than 200 people, mostly homeowners who opposed an on-campus stadium, attended the meeting Thursday night.