Susan Armstrong recently blanketed the neighborhood with fliers soliciting input from those who are against the planned 9,000-seat stadium. To date, Armstrong says she’s received more than 40 “mostly negative” returns. She and some of her neighbors are concerned about noise, lights, traffic, tailgating and other potential disturbances.

City Councilman G. Manoli Loupassi says he sent UR President William Cooper a letter in late October requesting a meeting about the concerns. He says he hasn’t received a response.

“It has the potential for huge adverse impact,” Loupassi says. “The neighbors are getting whipped into a frenzy. … I want to get everybody at the table so they are not just reading about it in the paper.”

UR Athletic Director Jim Miller says the football stadium — actually an expansion of the existing 3,000-seat First Market Stadium — is still in the early planning stages. Miller says the university has met with at least three homeowners associations about the new stadium. It would create no more traffic than the existing Robins Center, he says, and would only generate significant traffic five or six Saturday afternoons a year for home football games.

Miller says the new stadium just hasn’t been a priority. Contractors are reviewing the plans, he says, and there is no timetable for starting construction, which would take 18 months. The university hasn’t begun raising money for the facility, he says, which could cost up to $15 million.

“I wouldn’t be surprised that people think there is a whole lot going on behind the scenes,” Miller adds, “but that is just not the case.” — Scott Bass