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City Council Minutes July 1, 1998 • Page 3 ~~ ~,r ';~ in compliance with Title IX criteria. Hudec stated his belief that the federal government would be unlikely to sanction the University for not building immediately given that the funds for the stadium have been raised. Scott Hamilton, representing homeowners in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood, read a statement of opposition to the stadium that was passed by the District 12 Community Council. He also presented a petition of 124 residents in the immediate area in opposition to the stadium. The neighbors are concerned about negative secondary impacts such as noise and parking congestion. Mary Jo McGuire, District 54A State Representative, representing Falcon Heights, stated that she supports the University and women's soccer stadium, but not at the proposed location. She stated that the University did a poor job of involving the community in the planning of the stadium and that she supports having the final location decision delayed. McGuire stated that the University may have land use control over the area but the legislature has future funding authority. Alice Hausman, District 60A State Representative, representing the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul, noted that parking is a real concern for her constituents, as there is no additional parking proposed for the stadium. She is also concerned about the • volume of future stadium use. Given that soccer is afast-growing sport, there will be pressure to hold more than the planned eight to eleven games per year. Janice Rettman, District 3 Ramsey County Commissioner representing Falcon Heights, expressed her concerns about the impact of the stadium on the livability in the University-Grove and 1666 Coffman neighborhoods. Rettman stated that county staff will share knowledge of other potential site with the city. However, this site should be rejected. Councilmember Gibson Talbot read the following statement from District 54 State Senator John Marty, representing Falcon Heights: "A women's soccer team will be a very high quality competitive team and deserves to be planned for growth, because it should grow and will grow. "How can a facility like this be planned without showers? If it is not a major competition team then it wouldn't make sense to build a stadium at all. This stadium makes it clear that it is a top competitive team so all the additional things like showers should be part of it. The team deserves it and it is a waste of 52 million not to build it so it can be a full service, active stadium with room to grow. "How can you plan for no growth in the sport including spectators? The 12 year olds of today play more soccer than any other sport and when they are 18 they'll go to soccer • games before they go to baseball and football games because that is what they grew up with. Planning a stadium with no future growth in parking and seating is not reasonable and a poor use of S2 million.