Plans have been drawn up and approved, and after an environmental impact study is completed, the school will approach the community for input regarding the project's general plan.

If everything goes according to plan, the school will have raised the necessary funding—$5 million—by its proposed construction date, which is in spring 2004, said Keith Meyer, a civil engineering consultant hired by the high school.

So far only $125,000 has been raised, according to the school's capital campaign manager, Sharon Drake.

Once the project is completed the all-girls Catholic school will finally have a home field advantage, said Donna Delaney, director of development. Until that time the school will continue to rent space for its soccer and field hockey games from Willow Glen High School. Presentation also rents the Willow Glen High School's pool facilities for the water polo and swim teams.

"Bringing a sport home is critical," Delaney said.

But bringing those sports activities home will also mean home games, which could also mean noise issues for nearby residents.

The anticipated 13-month project calls for major reconstruction to the school's west end, which faces Booksin Avenue. The renovation includes the demolition of the sidewalk and two existing apartments on Booksin Avenue, the installation of artificial turf on the playing field and an 8- or 10-foot-high fence surrounding the field to prevent errant soccer balls from bouncing into the street or onto St. Christopher Church next door.

The turf, Meyers said, isn't AstroTurf but a similar product that "looks and feels like regular grass but is softer."

Delaney said that the school would apply to the city for a conditional use permit in May 2003 after meeting with members of the community to discuss the school's plans and listen to any concerns residents might have.

Delaney said when the school held a city-required community meeting for its phase one construction of a mixed classroom and theater complex, there were hardly any concerns about noise from construction.

Nearby resident Kali Schlieman said that noise is part of the package that comes with buying a home near a school.

Schlieman and her husband moved four years ago to Edmond Court, located south of the school.

"Nobody likes noise, but for school noise you're prepared for it," she said.

However, she wonders that if to compensate for any nuisance that construction noise poses the school might be willing to open its pool to the public when school isn't in session.

Charlie Konecny, 75, who has lived on Booksin Avenue for the past 40 years, said noise from home games or construction doesn't concern him.

"This all used to be farmland," he says, "but this school's been here for years and so every so often there's some construction going on. It's just progress, and the noise already doesn't reach far enough to affect me."

Noise concerns aside, the engineering consultant's biggest challenge was trying to find enough space to fit softball, soccer and field hockey playing areas in the school's confined west end.

"It was a challenge because the space is so constrained, and to meet the regulations we had to overlap the soccer field with the softball field," Meyer said.

The new field would be 55 feet by 100 feet, with a 10- to 15-foot safety perimeter.

Mani Hernandez, the school's soccer coach of 20 years, said, "We've trained at various school and city fields and they get a lot of punishment. Having our own field with the artificial turf will be tremendous. It eliminates having to leave school grounds and could possibly decrease injuries because other field have been uneven or had holes."

The project's plans also show that the tennis courts would need to be removed to make room for an outdoor pool. Delaney said this means the girls tennis team will have to rent courts once the project begins.

"The pool wasn't as large as the school would have liked because of the setback requirements set by the city," Meyers said.

The 85-foot-by-75-foot pool is designed to have a deck 20 feet wide.

As for funding the project, Delaney said the school would raise funds through grants, donations from corporations, foundations, alumnae and parents.

The project is scheduled to be completed in February 2005, meaning the graduating classes of 2003 and 2004 will miss out.

"Understandably," Drake said, "they're bummed about it."