San Jose Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff’s plan to build a $60 million soccer stadium faces its final vote Wednesday night, when the San Jose Planning Commission is expected to decide whether the city has adequately addressed residents’ concerns about how the stadium will impact their lives.

If the Earthquakes get the go-ahead, the team’s stadium would be the city’s first major professional sports venue built since the San Jose Arena, now called HP Pavilion, opened in 1993.

And observers say how the Earthquakes’ stadium ultimately plays out with its neighbors may provide a case study for those who live close to Wolff’s paramount goal: an almost $500 million downtown Major League Baseball park for the Oakland A’s, but only if MLB allows the team to move to San Jose and voters approve the project.

A planned development permit that details what types of events can be held at the Earthquakes’ 18,000-seat stadium, next to Mineta San Jose International Airport, was approved by city planners in mid-December. Team officials say 20 soccer games have been scheduled at home, as well as 10 to 15 other events — none of them concerts as had originally been planned.

But in early January, Nancy Thomas, a Newhall Neighborhood Association member who lives within 1,000 feet of the stadium, appealed that permit, saying the impact from the noise and lights of the proposed stadium have not been properly analyzed.

Thomas also wrote that the permit must prohibit artificial noisemakers such as horns and vuvuzelas, as well as any fireworks. She and other neighbors worry that the wording in the permit that bans concerts and other “extraordinary” events is weaker than what was originally described by city officials during a community meeting in December.

And Thomas is concerned the plan for the community to address any future problems it might have with the way the stadium is operated doesn’t follow “best practices.”

But San Jose planning officials say the residents’ concerns resulted in specific conditions in the permit, including a Good Neighbor Plan. They also say that updated reports and structural changes confirm that the stadium — which is bounded by parking lots on the north, the airport on the east, a freeway to the south and a railroad to the west — would not generate the amount of noise and light that was originally projected.

“That is the result of the concerts going away and adding a roof element over the seating area,” San Jose Planning Director Joe Horwedel said.

“This is a logical place to put a stadium,” Horwedel said. “The staff has worked with the applicant to design the stadium so that it creates a great environment for attending an Earthquakes game and is a good neighbor to the neighbors across the railroad tracks.”

Horwedel said any decision about fireworks is up to the Earthquakes, who must get approval from the San Jose Fire Department and the Federal Aviation Administration to use them at any event. It’s also up to the team, not the planning commission, to ban artificial noisemakers, Horwedel said.

Team President Dave Kaval said the Earthquakes already don’t allow whistles, vuvuzelas or horns of any kind at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, where the team currently plays, though some drums are allowed. And Kaval doesn’t expect that policy to change in the new stadium planned for the southwest corner of Newhall Drive and Coleman Avenue.

He said he wants the team to have a partnership with the local community that addresses “everyone’s concerns and makes sure we have the least impact on anyone living in the surrounding area.”

Even Thomas wrote in her appeal that the neighbors “welcome soccer and private development dollars in San Jose.” They just want it done right, she said.

So do soccer fans, whose dream of a permanent home for their team seems that much closer to reality.

After announcing the sale of 12 luxury suites in late November, Kaval said, 10 suites have been purchased by individuals or corporations, each for $350,000 for a five-year contract. Unlike other stadiums that feature luxury boxes, these suites are on the field for an up-close experience.

“I’m passionate about the Earthquakes, and I love the sport,” said Shaun Del Grande, who was the third person to buy a suite.

As president of the Del Grande Dealer Group, the largest privately held automotive group in the Bay Area, the former semipro soccer player invested in the suite to share it with his 500 employees, as well as customers and vendors.

“It’s the coolest stadium in the league,” Del Grande said. “It will be a lot of fun for our organization to watch a great sport in a great environment.”

The stadium on 14 acres is being privately finance by Wolff, who has the option of paying the city $5 million for the land by June, or $7 million after that.

Wolff’s group, Coleman Airport Partners, and FWSH Partners plan to develop the remaining 64 acres of the 78-acre site with 1.5 million square feet of office space, 75,000 square feet of retail stores and 300 hotel rooms and parking.

If the planning commission denies the neighborhood’s appeal, the team will finally get its planned development permit. But it will still have to apply for a building permit when it submits detailed drawings of the stadium for review by planning officials.

Kaval said once that happens, the team could break ground as early as this summer and open the stadium by next year.

Contact Tracy Seipel at 408 275-0140.