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Colorado Springs-area homeowners and apartment dwellers who say they've been inundated with unwanted noise from the new outdoor Ford Amphitheater plan to turn up the volume on the City Council.
Several residents who've posted on social media sites or complained about amphitheater noise to the city via its GoCOS app say they'll attend Tuesday's regular City Council meeting to voice their displeasure in person during a portion of the session when the public is invited to comment about non-agenda items.
And some City Council members say they'll be listening as they begin to explore what steps, if any, the city can take to address their complaints.
"We need to do something," said Councilwoman Nancy Henjum. "I’m very concerned about the complaints that we're getting."
Through Thursday, the city had received nearly 650 complaints about excessive amphitheater noise, though some residents appear to have filed multiple complaints, said city spokeswoman Vanessa Zink. Also, since complaints can be filed anonymously, it's unknown whether all complaints came from areas where noise can be heard, she said.
As a result, it's possible the number of complaints received by the city could be less, though it's certainly more than 100, Zink said.
But in addition to complaints received by the city, several hundred more have been posted on social media sites such as Nextdoor. Some commenters on that platform have said they plan to protest amphitheater noise directly to the City Council.
Beyond comments from area residents upset about noise, Henjum said she expects council members will hear Tuesday from Jamie Fabos, Mayor Yemi Mobolade's chief of staff who typically attends council meetings.
What Fabos might have to say isn't known. Zink said Fabos and other Mobolade administration staffers are preparing to answer council questions "to the best of their ability."
The council meets 10 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 107 N. Nevada Ave., in downtown Colorado Springs.
Henjum and seven other council members voted 8-1 in January 2023 to approve the 8,000-seat Ford Amphitheater, which opened Aug. 9 southwest of Voyager Parkway and North Gate Boulevard in the 200-acre Polaris Pointe mixed-use development.
The amphitheater, proposed and developed by Colorado Springs entertainment company VENU, was designed as a luxury facility that would host big-name performers. It would allow local residents to enjoy concerts in a scenic, outdoor setting without driving to Red Rocks or Fiddler's Green — longtime open-air venues near Denver, VENU officials have said.
At the time the amphitheater was proposed, some nearby residents said they feared noise would fill their backyards and homes; the facility and the larger Polaris Pointe development are ringed by several neighborhoods.
A lawsuit brought by a local resident and a homeowners' group that alleged the amphitheater would violate the state's Noise Pollution Law was dismissed in court, though an appeal is pending.
VENU, as the project's developer, was required to implement noise mitigation measures, which included installation of a noise wall to serve as a sound barrier on the east side of seating areas.
Noise-detection devices also were installed at two locations just outside the amphitheater — at Spectrum Loop and Voyager Parkway and near Bass Pro Drive and North Gate Boulevard — to measure sound levels. Those devices collect data that's fed to amphitheater operators, who can adjust sound levels if noise is too loud.
VENU officials obtained a noise hardship permit that allows the amphitheater to exceed city noise limits of 50 decibels in residential areas between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Even so, VENU officials say noise levels measured inside the facility have not exceeded a city-imposed limit of 110 decibels once every five minutes. Noise measurements outside the facility, meanwhile, have been no different than the immediate area's ambient noise from cars, trucks and motorcycles, VENU officials say.
On the one hand, many area residents, business people and civic leaders have applauded the amphitheater as an exciting new attraction for Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region.
But noise complaints that began during the first weekend of amphitheater shows headlined by pop band OneRepublic show no signs of slowing down.
City Council President Randy Helms previously told The Gazette he didn't believe amphitheater noise was overly obtrusive, based on his informal canvassing of nearby neighborhoods while driving and walking during the venue's initial OneRepublic shows.
Yet, Helms conceded last week that complaints might be ramping up. An Aug. 18 amphitheater concert headlined by reggae and pop bands Iration and Pepper seemed louder than others so far and generated more complaints and concerns, he said.
"I know that me and fellow council members want to address this issue of the venue and the loudness of the music," Helms said.
Henjum has at least one seemingly simple solution: Turn down the sound.
"I think they could lower the volume inside the amphitheater," she said Thursday. "I got an email this morning from someone who said, 'I love the concerts, I'm thrilled that it's here. But it was so loud inside. Like, why does it have to be so loud?'"
Henjum said she attended an invitation-only concert at the amphitheater three days before its official Aug. 9 opening. Her reaction?
"It's too loud, for me, inside the amphitheater," she said.
Besides lowering the volume, more noise-monitoring devices possibly should be installed in areas that stretch 1 to 3 miles away from the amphitheater, Henjum said.
But could the City Council amend a development plan it approved in January 2023, which spelled out the amphitheater's allowable noise limits and other conditions under which the facility operates?
No, Henjum said, based on what she's heard from the City Attorney's Office.
"I have been told that we had one bite at that apple, and that bite is done," she said.
"I have some real regrets about not necessarily my vote (to approve the amphitheater), but not having done a more thorough job of really looking at the development plan," Henjum added. "I think we could have, should have, put some stronger teeth into that development plan."
Helms has his own ideas about what might be done to address noise issues, but said he's not yet ready to talk specifics.
"I'm want it to be good for everyone," Helms said. "I think the amphitheater is a good venue. But I'm listening to my constituents, too."
It's just not city officials who are fielding complaints.
El Paso County Commissioner Holly Williams, whose district includes the amphitheater site along with neighborhoods in northern Colorado Springs and northern El Paso County, said she's received at least 20 emailed complaints. One woman said her husband isn't sleeping at night because of sound from the amphitheater, while a family said its baby was awakened by concert noise.
Several complaints have come from the Sun Hills neighborhood outside city limits to the north and northeast of the amphitheater site, while others have come from Flying Horse to the east and inside the Springs, she said.
Since the noise originates inside the city, there's little that commissioners can do, though the county could send its code-enforcement officers into neighborhoods to take noise readings and determine the extent of the problem, Williams said.
If there are solutions, they'll take time, Williams said. She warned area residents not to expect relief through the rest of the amphitheater's inaugural concert season, which runs until at least mid-October, based on its upcoming concert schedule.
JW Roth, the founder, chairman and CEO of amphitheater developer VENU, said he knows the city and county have received complaints, and he and his staff plan to attend Tuesday's City Council meeting to hear what's being said.
In the meantime, he said he's seeking to gather more information about what kind of noise the amphitheater is generating.
On Friday, and possibly Saturday, a third-party audiovisual company that was a subcontractor on the installation of the amphitheater's sound system was scheduled to measure noise levels before, during and after concerts from 20 locations outside the venue, Roth said. Christian singer Lauren Daigle was scheduled to perform Friday; rock band Primus was booked for Saturday night.
Among those locations, sound was to be measured outside eight homes, whose residents had filed complaints with Williams, the county commissioner, Roth said.
Other locations include Fox Run Regional Park in unincorporated Black Forest about 5 miles to the northeast; the parking lot of the Progressive Insurance customer service center roughly 1 mile to the south; and outside of a King Soopers grocery east of Interstate 25 and Baptist Road nearly nearly 5 miles to the north.
Roth said he'll turn over the sound measurement data to the mayor's office and let the Mobolade administration decide what to do with it.
The purpose of the exercise is to collect hard information that can be measured and examined, instead of relying on social media comments, some of which Roth said he believes are greatly exaggerated. He branded one complaint about amphitheater noise rattling windows several miles to the north in Monument as ridiculous.
If there's a change he'll consider in the amphitheater's operation, it could be to end Sunday concerts at 10 p.m., instead of 10:30 p.m. as the city authorized, Roth said. That change couldn't be put in place until next year because of commitments with existing shows, he said.
Roth, however, said he plans no changes in Friday and Saturday concerts, which the city has allowed to run until 11:30 p.m.
Asked if he'd be willing to lower city-authorized decibel levels at the amphitheater, Roth said he couldn't commit to changes at this time.
Any changes in how the amphitheater operates would need to be made in conjunction with AEG Presents, the global concert promoter hired by VENU to book shows and run the facility, Roth said.
At the same time, Roth said he can't commit to changes until he has more scientific data about noise levels emitted by the amphitheater.
"I'm trying to get the facts and sometimes you can read something on a website, like Nextdoor, and you have to, sort of, in a lot of ways, take it with a grain of salt until you can prove it one way or the other, and that's my job," Roth said. "My job is to get the facts and then present those facts. And, if there's things I can do to mitigate issues, that's the first thing I'm going to do."
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