Neighbors continue to voice concerns about proposed 25,000 seat cricket stadium in Oswego

Residents living near Orchard Road and Tuscany Trail in Oswego continue to voice concerns about the noise and traffic a proposed 25,000 seat outdoor cricket stadium would generate.

Oswego resident Paresh Patel of Chakra360 LLC has submitted plans to build the professional cricket stadium with a clubhouse and restaurant on 33.48 acres at the northwest corner of Orchard Road and Tuscany Trail in Oswego. The land is currently zoned for manufacturing and the proposed stadium would be considered a special use.

Patel invited neighbors living near the project to an Aug. 24 informational meeting at the Oswego campus of the Oswego Public Library. The proposed Breybourne Stadium would be built in phases.

As proposed, the stadium would be open for use in the late summer/early fall of 2024, with a seating capacity of 2,000. Phase 3 of the project would bring capacity up to 6,000 capacity and Phase 4 would increase it to about 14,000 people.

With the seating increased to 14,000, the stadium would be able to accommodate national cricket events possibly by the fall of 2026, according to the plans. Future plans involve completing second and third level stadium seating, which would bring capacity to between 24,000 and 25,000 people.

Those plans are dependent upon the sanctioning of future International cricket events.

During the meeting, Patel told residents that village officials would have to approve each stage of the plan.

“Every single stage that we build, all these documents plus more would be submitted to the village for review,” he said.

The project also includes a 14,000-square-foot clubhouse with a restaurant and a 120-room hotel and restaurant. A resident asked Patel why he wants to locate the stadium in Oswego.

According to the plans, traffic associated with the stadium will occur off-peak as games are played in the evenings and on weekends. Patel plans to work with village officials to develop traffic control management plans that would discourage and prevent stadium traffic from using Tuscany Trail to the west of the facility.

All stadium traffic would be directed to the Orchard Road access points.

The concerns raised at the meeting were similar to those raised by residents during the Aug. 22 Oswego Village Board meeting.

“This doesn’t belong in the village,” said Kevin Oscarson, who lives in the Blackberry Knolls subdivision. “This belongs where there is plenty of room. It would be like building Raging Waves in our backyard.”

Raging Waves, which is located in Yorkville, is the state’s largest outdoor waterpark.

Blackberry Knolls resident Steve Lucas, who is an athletic director for the Plano School District, said he didn’t think the sport of cricket appeals to most Oswego residents.

“We’re not really catering to the residents or community members of Oswego,” he said. “Rather, we’re catering to people external outside of Oswego that would be coming in and polluting our neighborhood and adding traffic and crime.”

The village’s planning and zoning commission is set to review the plans at 7 p.m. Sept. 7. The commission will then make a recommendation to the Village Board.

The plans can be found at oswegoil.org/planningzoning.