Via the ISU News Service, officials with Jamie Pollard’s athletics department unveiled redesigns of the department’s proposed Cyclone Sports Complex on Tuesday, and we’re happy to say it would seem university officials took a cue from residents of south Campustown by going back to the drawing board.

The complex, which university officials were given permission to begin planning for at an October meeting of the Board of Regents, is slated to include new homes for Iowa State’s soccer, softball and track and field teams east of the Wallace and Wilson residence halls.

In a Dec. 8 public forum, area residents raised concerns over the potential increase in traffic, noise and lighting the project could bring to their neighborhood.

Residents along the south side of Storm Street complained the new facilities would be built too close to their properties; residents along Ash Avenue decried the eyesore the facilities would be, in the place of what is currently a normally well-manicured field.

University officials said they believe they have revised their initial proposal to accommodate the residents’ concerns.

Only time will tell.

Several questions remain unanswered. Where will the clubs and intramural teams displaced by the facility find their new homes?

We hope residents who continue to be opposed to the idea of a multimillion dollar athletics complex across the street from their homes will find answers at Tuesday’s public forum.

And, as plans to redevelop Campustown continue to move forward, we hope the university will continue to keep an eye toward south Campustown as an opportunity for further development, in an effort to restore the foot traffic lost to the area with the demolition of the Knapp and Storms residence halls and the creation of a CyRide route that ferries passengers from south Ames to Central Campus.

A thriving, vibrant Campustown is in everyone’s best interests, and we hope the renovation and relocation of the Cyclone Sports Complex is just another step in that direction.

We’re pleased to say we’re proud of the university for taking action to address the community’s concerns. Although there might be more work ahead for the project’s engineers, the university’s reaction to the initial forum seems to be a step in the right direction, and we hope to see more of the same in the weeks and months ahead.

Part of living in a community, in Iowa, especially, is being a good neighbor. It would seem the university is committed to being a good neighbor to south Campustown residents.

We hope Tuesday’s forum proves that to be the case.