City officials visit other amphitheater sites in U.S. Posted 6/23/00 by John Gessner Staff Writer Outdoor amphitheaters are a ìchallengeî for host cities, but the problems are manageable, Burnsville City Manager Greg Konat told the City Council June 19. Konat based his remarks on recent fact-finding visits to amphitheaters by Burnsville police and fire officials. The officials visited the 21,000-seat Riverport Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Miss.; the 18,000-seat Fiddlerís Green Amphitheater in Littleton, Colo.; and the 18,000-seat Sandstone Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kan. Konat himself visited a Massachusetts venue, the Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts, and some council members are planning trips to the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee. Burnsville is reviewing an application by the Minnesota Wild hockey team and concert promoter Rose Presents to build the proposed Black Dog Amphitheater on the Minnesota River west of I-35W. The 19,500-seat project has come under furious attack from some Bloomington and Burnsville residents and from Bloomington officials. ìThereís all kinds of horror stories out thereî about amphitheaters, Konat told council members in an update on the complex and politically charged review process. But business and civic leaders Burnsville officials spoke with on visits to cities with an amphitheater ìstill saw it as an amenity,î Konat said. He said Burnsville officials had thought noise from amphitheater concerts would be more of an issue in other cities than it is. He said the three sites visited by police and fire officials average 19 noise complaints during a concert season. ìFor the most part, noise was not a great concern at the sites that we visited,î Konat said. Traffic circulation was more of a concern, and officials in other cities gave Burnsville officials tips on how to handle it, Konat said. Most behavior problems at the other venues are alcohol-related, ìso weíre learning about what we can do to put controls on that,î Konat said. At the venues police and fire officials visited, there were an average of six arrests per event, per season, he said. Konat said violent crimes at amphitheaters are rare. The city will prepare a report on public-safety issues in time for council review of the planned unit development (PUD) required to allow construction to begin. Public hearings on the PUD are scheduled for July and August. Information on the amphitheater is available through the cityís Web site, a phone hotline, and in an information packet, Konat said. Neighborhood meetings have also been held in Burnsville and Bloomington. ìI think itís crucial people understand itís all part of something significantly larger than the amphitheater itself,î he said. Taxes on the improved amphitheater property would pay roughly half the cost of building roads and infrastructure needed to serve the project and all of the cityís northwest river quadrant, according to Konat. The other half would come from Dakota County, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and other sources, with no increase in city taxes, Konat said. He said the amphitheater would be the catalyst for redeveloping an area that has generated relatively little tax revenue through such uses as active and abandoned landfills, rock and cement crushing, cement plants and mining. Some of those uses will be exhausted in coming years, and the city must begin plans for the future, Konat said. Some opponents have questioned whether Burnsville taxpayers would be stuck for millions if the amphitheater goes out of business before the developers pay off tax-increment financing bonds. ìWeíve assured people we will not put the city in any risk thatís unusual, thatís different than what weíve done in the past,î Konat said. During the open-comment portion of the council meeting, one resident scolded Konat for a suggestion attributed to him in a newspaper article that meddling by amphitheater opponents may have hastened referral of alleged Clean Water Act violations on the property to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by the Army Corps of Engineers. Konat said amphitheater opponents in Bloomington have made clear they want to block the project by any means necessary, which he said has involved steps beyond the environmental assessment worksheet and PUD process under Burnsvilleís purview. For example, Konat said state lawmakers from Bloomington spoke on the floor of the Legislature for an expanded environmental review, and the city of Bloomington moved unsuccessfully to strip Burnsville of its environmental-oversight function. ìIím just informing people, thatís what is going on,î Konat said. ìIf anyone is offended by that, I apologize.î A public hearing on the EAW is scheduled for July 5, with a council vote on its adequacy scheduled for July 11. Hearings on the PUD are tentatively scheduled for July 24 before the Planning Commission, with an extension to Aug. 14 if needed; and Aug. 21 before the council, with an extension to Sept. 5 if needed. ©Thisweek Newspapers