The Abridged version:
- Plans to upgrade the Rio Americano High School stadium have reignited a conflict between families and neighbors.
- Students and parents say they want to see the Arden Arcade school host its own home games and other large events. Opponents raised concerns about potential impacts to the nearby American River Parkway.
- Trustees for the San Juan Unified School District will decide in November whether to advance the project.
Plans to upgrade the Rio Americano High School stadium have been a longtime coming in the minds of some students and families.
But a contingent of Sacramento residents is pushing back, pointing to concerns of increased noise levels, the glare of bright stadium lights and other concerns regarding the American River Parkway in the school’s backyard.
At Rio Americano, in south Arden Arcade, the utility of the current Raider Stadium is restricted. Existing bleachers hold just under 300 people, and a limited amount of lighting comes from a handful of short, portable light stands, according to project documents.
For decades, home football games have been hosted at neighboring sites, like El Camino High School. Or they are played in daylight hours on Saturday in front of smaller crowds. Other largely attended events, like graduation ceremonies, get moved off campus as well.
Using bond funds that voters approved in 2024, San Juan Unified School District officials are proposing adding taller lights, bigger bleacher stands, a press box and a new sound system for Rio Americano.
Previous attempts to upgrade the venue have faced sharp resistance from neighbors and community members.
The San Juan Unified school board is expected to take up the issue during its Nov. 17 meeting.
‘A whole community will come together’
Shauna Cvetovac remembers debating whether to attend home games as a student at Rio Americano. Even a short drive to another school was enough to dissuade her and her classmates, especially with little in the way of home school spirit waiting for them there, she said.
“It always felt a little weird,” said Cvetovac, who graduated in 1997.
Years later, the mom of four, including one Rio Americano graduate and one current senior, said she has continued to see a need.
She said players sometimes miss academic time because they have to leave their last class early in order to travel to games elsewhere.
Cvetovac is the latest parent to lead a push for a home-game ready stadium. A petition she started about three years ago, she said, has accumulated around 1,700 signatures from parents, students and staff.
Interest resurged after the school district released new renderings in August.
“I think a whole community will come together,” Cvetovac said.
Environmental concerns in Arden
Many members of the community, though, are not sold.
“It’s the light, the noise, the increased use. It’s increased traffic,” said Barbara Dugal, a leading voice against the stadium project. “It’s the whole gamut.”
The district published a draft environmental impact report in early September. The analysis suggested mostly less-than-significant impacts or no impacts. Noise from cheering crowds, marching bands and a louder sound system was identified as one of the most “significant and unavoidable” consequences.
Dugal and others from the Rio Americano Community Alliance took issue with many aspects of the district’s report, including its assessment of traffic and wildlife effects. The group plans to send school officials a nearly 100-page letter detailing its apprehensions, Dugal said.
“We see this as one of many threats to the parkway,” she said.
District officials will consider all the feedback they receive during the official comment period, which ended Friday, said San Juan Unified spokesperson Raj Rai.
“We recognize the importance of protecting the natural environment surrounding Rio Americano High School, including the nearby American River Parkway, and understand the concerns raised by community members regarding the proposed stadium improvements,” Rai said in a statement.
Blocked before
The last time the school district tried to make changes to the stadium at this scale was around 20 years ago, according to Dugal.
Neighbors then sued over the significant noise impact, she said, and the court agreed the project couldn’t continue as planned.
Cvetovac, after taking the mantle of the pro-upgrades campaign, said she has spoken with parents involved last go around.
“They thought it was going to be a done deal then,” she said.
In recent years, the district has made incremental updates to the area, including a track and field refurbish finished in 2019.
‘This is a want’
San Juan Unified has about $3.5 billion in infrastructure needs districtwide, Rai said. Voters in 2024 approved a $950 million bond measure to go toward facility improvements.
Some of those needs include fixing aging buildings and modernizing classrooms for career technical education.
Opponents of the stadium project questioned why it was included in the overall list.
“This is taxpayer money,” said Candice Heinz, who lives near the school and river trail. “This is some high intensity stadium that is nonessential.”
Dugal said she and other neighbors are not adversaries to kids or families.
“This is just the wrong location,” she said. “This is a want. It’s not a need.”
Rai said the Rio Americano school community had the chance to weigh in on what the highest priorities were for the campus. Stadium renovations were among top picks, she said.
The improvements will make Rio Americano’s venue more comparable to other local high schools, Rai said, including nearby Jesuit High School. The private Catholic school updated its athletic facilities recently, adding permanent stadium lights in 2024.
San Juan Unified trustees will decide in November whether to advance the Rio Americano project.
