Westmont homeowners upset over an American Cancer Society fundraiser say their issue has everything to do with location.
Residents in the Oakwood Homeowners Association spoke out last week against Community Unit School District 201’s plans to hold the ACS’s Relay for Life fundraiser at Westmont High School’s athletic field, which abuts the backyards of 15 area homes. Three residents spoke at the Feb. 24 School Board meeting.
Some of those residents also plan to address the issue at Westmont’s Planning and Zoning Committee, which is expected to address permit requests for the event at its March 11 meeting.
Relay for Life is an overnight walk that raises money for the ACS, remembers those who have lost their lives to cancer and to honor those who have or have beaten the disease. This is the first year Westmont will have its own event, said Leslie Abrahamson, ACS event organizer.
The main issue, resident Patrick Dunne said, is not with the ACS or the event, but that it is being held in violation of a promise made by District 201 not to hold non-school events on the field at night.
“When the district installed those lights, and the cell towers to fund them, the promise was made to the association that they would only be used three or four times a year, and only for school events,” Dunne said. “Those lights are on well over 20 times in a school year now, and they shine in yards and homes of many of those residents who live next to the field.”
In 2005, the district approved the installation of two cell phone towers adjacent to the field. The district said at the time the lease would generate more than $35,000 annually, which was used to pay for the lights on the athletic field.
Eleven Oakwood homeowners have signed a petition asking the Relay for Life event to be relocated in the village, such as Ty Warner Park, Blackhawk and Plaza drives, which is in a much less residential area.
By allowing Relay for Life to proceed, Dunne said District 201 is setting a precedent for hosting other, non-school related events at night.
Superintendent Steven Baule said when District 201 was originally approached by the ACS last fall, the district agreed to consider allowing organizers to hold the Westmont Relay for Life on the high school field only if they got permission from the Oakwood Homeowners Association’s Board of the Directors, and if they received the necessary permits from the village.
Baule said the homeowners association approved the event at the Nov. 6 association meeting, and a letter was sent to the district to indicate the agreement.
Association President Matt Johnson said the group has no jurisdiction to vote whether or not the district should hold the event at the school, since it is the school district’s property. The association’s board did approve to acknowledge the event, but essentially said it could not object to the Relay for Life, he said.
“It was a good-neighbor gesture by the district asking for our blessing, which was all the authority we really had in the matter,” Johnson said.
When the event was proposed by the ACS last fall, Johnson said it was the hope and understanding of the OHA Board that the residents immediately affected would be personally contacted.
Abrahamson said she has spoken with some Oakwood residents, but said the ACS cannot go door-to-door to meet every homeowner due to time constraints.
In planning the event, which is done months before it happens, the ACS did a compete study of every area in the village, and said the high school field was the best, and safest location.
“If we had it at Ty-Warner, we would have to rent fencing and other equipment,” Abrahamson said. “The high school field is completely fenced in, which is important for security and safety at the event. Plus it also has a paved walking track, which is much more useful than holding it on all grass.”
Abrahamson said the ACS is trying to work with residents, and the village, with the issue of excessive lights, music and noise that could disturb neighbors. The ACS will ask the school district to turn off some of those lights in the late hours, and organizers may bring in smaller lights that won’t cause as much light pollution.
As far as the event being a non-school event, Baule said currently 20 to 25 students have volunteered to lead teams for the relay and a few have volunteered for other roles. Overall, the district anticipates about 100 students participating in the program if it is held at the high school, he said.
