My name is Charles Kjos. My wife and I live at [omitted for privacy: an address east of 35w on 107th street], Bloomington, Minnesota 55420. I have helped the Bloomington Amphitheater Coalition and I assisted in the citizens’ sound demonstration.

The purpose of my statement is twofold: (1) to demonstrate that the proposed Black Dog Amphitheater’s sound would likely be audible, disruptive, and irritating outside and inside homes in east Bloomington, over 1½ miles NE of the amphitheater site, and (2) to submit that the cross-city footprint of disruptive, irritating noise amply establishes the proposed amphitheater as an issue of Metropolitan Significance.

Current Noise at My Home

My wife and I live in east Bloomington about 1 mile from the highway 35W bridge across the Minnesota River. We are about 1.3-mile NE of the citizens’ demonstration sound source, and about 1.6 miles NE of the amphitheater site. Sound generated on and near the river follows the river valley and spills into adjoining neighborhoods. We hear 35W traffic in our bedroom with windows closed, we hear trucks down-shifting as they approach and cross the river, we hear tires slapping as they cross the bridge, and we hear the near-continuous noise of ordinary automobile traffic.

The Winter Studies

The winter concert simulation study sound exceeded 35W traffic noise in Hopkins Circle (study site 3, east of 35W) and elsewhere in east Bloomington; the winter cannon shot study indicated amphitheater sound would occasionally exceed ambient sound at Hopkins Circle. If amphitheater sound exceeds traffic noise at Hopkins Circle, it will exceed traffic noise in my neighborhood, about ½-mile east of Hopkins Circle. The cannon shot study understated likely amphitheater sound at Hopkins Circle because (1) it was conducted in winter, effectively precluding the temperature inversion sound enhancement common to summer evenings, (2) because the wind was blowing across a line from the cannon to Hopkins Circle. (The typical S to SW summer wind would carry sound right into Hopkins Circle and farther east into Bloomington.), (3) it ignored crowd noise, thus understating total concert noise at all measurement points, and (4) it contained understating mathematical errors which the citizens’ group documented.

My point: The formal scientific studies indicated amphitheater sound would exceed 35W noise at Hopkins Circle and at least ½-mile farther east into east Bloomington.

Citizens’ demonstration results

For all the sound reduction claimed by amphitheater proponents, the proponents also admit 93 dB sound spikes would radiate from the edge of the lawn seating area. The citizens’ demonstration reasonably approximated this sound level and, except for one 10-minute period at 1 monitoring site, it did not violate MPCA noise standards. When the citizens’ loudspeakers pointed NE, as the amphitheater speakers would point, they pointed right into east Bloomington. My wife and I heard the demonstration inside our home -- with windows closed and over our TV playing at normal volume. It was extremely disruptive.

I found out the next day what our neighbors experienced. One neighbor directly across the street believed her son was playing his stereo obnoxiously loud and she scolded him to turn it down. Our neighbor in the other house directly across the street believed rowdy people were partying nearby and called the police. A nearby neighbor recited the songs and groups he heard at his house. Our neighbors were angry and fearful of amphitheater noise, even if eventually made somewhat less dreadful than the demonstration noise.

Conclusion

The scientific winter sound studies and the citizens’ demonstration show amphitheater noise would exceed 35W traffic noise in my east Bloomington neighborhood. The citizens’ demonstration indicated amphitheater noise could ruin summer evenings in the yards, would make sleeping with windows open impossible, and would be only partially mitigated by closed windows. The amphitheater proposal is outrageous in its adverse impact on families in Bloomington.

Amphitheater noise from Burnsville could degrade the quality of life and probably property values in a significant part of west and east Bloomington. Bloomington would suffer because of a project in another community, Burnsville, and to me that clearly constitutes a situation of Metropolitan Significance. I find the Metropolitan Council’s own nuisance noise definition particularly sensible and applicable to the situation at hand: "Interferes unreasonably with enjoyment of life and property." I sincerely hope your finding will formally recognize the situation that actually exists.

Thank you very much.