Carenotes

The City of Burnsville, Minnesota, is considering construction of a 19,500 seat amphitheater on the Flood Plain of the Minnesota River Valley. This project is promoted by the Minnesota Wild, Rose Presents, and the McGowan property owners.

Concerts would begin at 7 or 8 PM, but the parking lot would open 2 hours earlier, just in time for up to 6,300 extra vehicles to join the rush hour traffic on 35W -- several times a week from mid-May to mid-September. IS THIS WISE? After rock concerts, area roads will be flooded with after-concert revelers, pumped up by their fresh concert experience! The most accident-prone, dangerous group of motorists on the road, these youthful drivers constitute a genuine hazard to others, especially when intoxicated.

The developers originally offered a flimsy sound study and opinions by their consultant (Paoletti Associates, Inc., of San Francisco).

Review of this “sound study” showed that it was neither thorough nor definitive: In fact, the consultant, Dennis Paoletti, acknowledged that “The intent of this measurement program was not to perform an exhaustive prediction of potential noise contours based on calculations.”

The consultant measured sound levels at a number of places in Bloomington but at ONLY TWO Burnsville locations!

The City has acknowledged that there were complaint calls from Burnsville residents during the “sound test.”

“A number of residences in Burnsville ... could clearly hear the amplified music,” stated Paoletti. “[It] was clearly audible.”

Residents to whom we have spoken describe the volume as approaching “a boom box in my back yard.” One woman, who lives behind the Dairy Queen on Highway 13, reported that she had to terminate a phone conversation because she was unable to hear the caller over the din. This in January, with the windows closed!

Using the Paoletti data, sound consultants for the City of Bloomington concluded that thousands of its residents would be impacted by noise from the amphitheater.

On weekends, concerts could be at any time of day. Do you want the language of rock and rap music to be heard by your children and grandchildren in your own backyard?

One is compelled to ask, can we afford to trust the sound abatement promises of the developers? What about temperature inversions, winds, and other climatic factors which propagate sound?

After the Metropolitan Council accepted a petition from residents of the metropolitan area which requested that the Council evaluate the negative impacts of this project on a community-wide basis, another sound study was conducted in November, 2000. As of mid-February, 2001, the results of that study have not been released.

As a result of such hazards, expanded community policing has been necessary. We taxpayers wonder where funds for OUR enlarged police force would come from?

In addition to crowd misbehavior, concert performers often bring their own kind of discord (such as incitement to disorder, lewd conduct on stage, and open provocation of police). As our City Council has affirmed, free speech rights make it nearly impossible to control what performers do.

Is this the kind of behavior we want to encourage here in our own community?

The proposed amphitheater would be within feet of this busy Minnesota River. Doesn’t it seem dangerous to mix commercial barges with pleasure boat owners cruising close to the concert site?

The 55 acre gravel parking lot would be built on top of a closed toxic waste landfill, one federally designated as especially dangerous.

Would the contour of this federally-controlled river, floodway, or flood plain be damaged or changed, violating federal law? The Army Corps of Engineers is currently investigating the construction of illegal dikes and illegal filling of wetland areas on the proposed amphitheater site. In addition, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has threatened legal action if the City of Burnsville does not require the landfill owner to lower the illegal dike so that upstream communities such as Savage, Shakopee, Jordan, and others are not put at increased risk of dangerous flooding. At the time of this writing, Burnsville has strongly resisted this directive!

[Burnsville is] “entering into a very risky business, complicated by a short season and occasional flooding of the site. You have inexperienced partners competing against established and experienced competition,” says Bruce Hendry, Investment Banker, named Minnesota and Dakotas Entrepreneur of the Year, 1995.

Such a large project demands substantial money to provide roads, sewer, and other improvements to serve it. The City plans to underwrite these up-front construction costs by issuing bonds, essentially borrowing from the public with the assumption that the amphitheater’s property value would increase and yield sufficient taxes to pay for those improvements. This is called “TAX INCREMENT FINANCING” (or, “TIF”).

Should the amphitheater fail -- as well it might -- someone would be obligated to repay the bond debt (projected to be over $10,000,000 plus interest at this writing). Obviously, this amphitheater project would demand developers who are responsible and capable of making the projected venture a success.

We believe that this complicated proposal has a huge number of negative, damaging aspects. We believe that it should be STOPPED NOW -- before irreparable harm is done to our community, to our property values, and to our families.


-- Talk to your neighbors, share information -- Write to newspapers so your concerns are seen by many other citizens -- There is strength in numbers. Join us for discussion, questions, action. We CARE - we know you do, too. Call and let us know how you feel about the amphitheater project -- Go to city council meetings. Every other Monday at 7 p.m. at city hall.
	-- Host a coffee session at your home -- or meet at a restaurant with friends and neighbors to discuss this. -- Help us out at CARE. There are a variety of jobs that need doing. -- Discuss the violence and foul lyrics of some of the rock and rap music with your clergy. Will she/he support us, let you put some brochures, etc., out for members of your congregation? -- Send along names of people you are sure are interested. Include name, address, phone, and Email. -- Some of our state legislators are stating that there is no significant opposition to the amphitheater in Burnsville? Let's show them that we are significant!

-- CONTACT OUR ELECTED CITY REPRESENTATIVES -- THEY SPEAK FOR US. THEY NEED TO HEAR OUR CONCERNS AND QUESTIONS.

Residents can leave messages for Council members at 952-895-4403 -- or, Fax: 952-895-4404

Mail:    Burnsville City Hall
            100 Civic Center Parkway
            Burnsville, MN 55337

Council member: Deb Moran (morand@ci.burnsville.mn.us)
Council member: Charlie Crichton (crichtonc@ci.burnsville.mn.us)
Council member: Liz Workman (workmanl@ci.burnsville.mn.us)
Council member: Steve Cherney (cherneys@ci.burnsville.mn.us)