Joliet Catholic Academy defends public outreach on stadium plan

A spokesman for Joliet Catholic Academy on Wednesday defended the school’s community outreach efforts about plans for an on-campus football stadium that could get the only city approval it needs Thursday.

JCA presented plans for the stadium at four community meetings, and more than 300 neighbors were notified by mail of one of them, Ryan Quigley, institutional advancement director at JCA, said Wednesday.

Quigley detailed JCA’s outreach efforts after comments were made at recent Joliet City Council meetings that neighbors were in the dark about the stadium plan until news reports last week that the project is going to the Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday for approval of a special-use permit needed to build the stadium.

“We’re more than happy to engage with the community,” Quigley said Wednesday as he described what the school did to inform neighbors of the stadium plan.

The zoning board meets at 2 p.m. Thursday in City Hall to consider a special-use permit.

A green light from the zoning board would be the only city approval JCA needs to move ahead with the project, although city officials discussing the matter at a council meeting Tuesday appeared not to realize the matter could be decided before the end of the week.

At a Monday council meeting, one JCA neighbor called for the city to table a vote on the stadium plan until residents could learn more and provide input on the project.

Quigley said JCA does not see a need to table the vote.

“We do not understand why a vote would be tabled when we have fulfilled our legal obligations and our obligations to the community,” he said.

JCA on Oct. 18 mailed notices to 317 addresses notifying neighbors of the stadium plan and a community meeting at which it would be discussed, Quigley said. The mailing was sent to addresses that fell within 600 feet of the project, which is what the city requires.

The meeting was Nov. 6.

Eight neighbors came to the meeting, although there were a total of 15 people there, Quigley said. Others were city officials and other interested parties.

Quigley said JCA also presented the stadium plan Oct. 2 to about 40 residents at Our Lady of Angels Village, a senior living community near the future stadium site.

The stadium and other new athletic facilities would be built on the site of the former Our Lady of Angels Village, which is now being demolished.

Quigley said he made presentations that included the stadium plans at two open houses held by JCA in November. More than 120 families attended the open houses, which Quigley said are open to the community but mostly attended by families intending to send children to JCA.

The city also has posted four large signs, two facing Ingalls Avenue and two facing Wyoming Avenue, notifying passersby of the zoning board meeting for the stadium plan.

At least since 2023, JCA has publicly confirmed the school’s interest in building a stadium on the site.

JCA President and Principal Jeffrey Budz told The Herald-News in July 2023 that an on-campus stadium was under consideration but more needed to be done, including meeting with neighbors.

An on-campus stadium has been part of the school’s long-term strategic plans going back to 2018.

JCA has never had an on-campus football stadium. For decades, the football team has played at Memorial Stadium.

But JCA but has not publicly announced its intention to move ahead with the project.

Quigley said JCA intended to make the announcement after it had the property and zoning needed to build the stadium.

“Our public announcement is contingent on the sale being completed, and the sale is contingent on the special-use permit being approved,” he said.

It’s not unusual for sales of property targeted for development to be contingent upon the buyer getting city approval for the plan.

JCA is buying the Our Lady of Angels Village site from the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate, a Joliet-based order that also has a major ownership interest in JCA.

Joliet officials on Wednesday confirmed that JCA only needs approval from the zoning board to get the special-use permit needed to move ahead.

“City code does not require this matter to go to City Council,“ Joliet spokeswoman Rosemaria DiBenedetto said in an email Wednesday.

She provided a copy of city code stating that zoning board approval alone is needed for special-use permits by public and private schools for facilities including playgrounds and athletic fields if they are at least 40 feet away from the nearest residential lot.

According to a staff memo to the zoning board, its approval alone is needed, and the matter would not go to the City Council.

DiBenedetto on Tuesday, however, said the matter would go to the council.

And, city officials who discussed the matter at a council meeting Tuesday night appeared to believe there was more time before a final decision.

City Manager Beth Beatty described the approval process as being in “very early stages” in a discussion about having another community meeting to inform neighbors.

“I think this neighborhood is an uproar right now,” council member Jan Quillman said.

She asked city officials to organize a community meeting in which neighbors could learn more about the plan.

Beatty said she would talk to JCA “about what they’ve done and what we can do to help get information out.”

Quigley disagreed that the neighborhood around JCA is “in an uproar” over the stadium approval and said he believes the school has support for its plan.

“We’ve had positive interaction with members of our community,” Quigley said. “That is my sense.”