[October 2, 2001]  The Metropolitan Council mediator, Roger Williams, declared an impasse between the parties involved in the Black Dog amphitheater mediation process.   The parties had been meeting for over a year trying to solve primarily the noise issues.  The impasse was reached after the citizen groups, Bloomington Amphitheater Coalition (BAC) and Burnsville’s Citizens Alliance for Responsible Ecology (CARE) presented their revised mediation proposal.   The two groups had reduced their July 26th mediation proposal from 42 items of concern to 16 issues.   The issues included maximum amphitheater noise levels, crowd size, operating hours, acceptable performer language (profanity and obsenity), and legal liability/lawsuits.

However, the Rose Wild LLC, the developer of the amphitheater, and City of Burnsville, the responsible government unit, were unwilling to negotiate further on these remaining issues and said that they were at an impasse.   The City of Bloomington was willing to continue negotiations.   Mayor Winstead commented that real progress had been made in the last few weeks.

Brian Carlson, BAC mediation representative, said “ I really thought that we could reach a resolution if all parties worked at it.   We presented our major concerns which we believed best protected the citizens of Bloomington and Burnsville from major environmental and economic problems.”    He expressed surprise and concern at the Rose Wild LLC and Burnsville’s position.   He continued “the BAC/CARE groups have planned an Oct. 10 meeting in Bloomington to present their proposal to citizens for consideration and input.”

With the mediation process ended, all parties have 30 days to present their positions to a Metropolitan Council Hearing Board.    Later, the Hearing Board will take testimony from expert witnesses and concerned citizens.  Williams said the Met Council would make a decision on the “metro significance” issue by Dec. 16, 2001.    Three lawsuits have also been filed questioning the amphitheater proposal on environmental and economic grounds.   These lawsuits are pending.