The City might waive its regulations concerning outdoor noise levels April 27-28 at Metropolitan Park during the "Welcome to Rockville" music festival.
Before the City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Metropolitan Park adjourned Thursday, City Council member and chair Denise Lee directed the Office of General Counsel to draft legislation to allow the promoters of the festival to be exempt from fines and criminal penalties that might be incurred by violating the City's noise control ordinance.
Lee said she would introduce the legislation Tuesday for immediate Council action as an emergency.
As part of the temporary waiver, Lee instructed the City Environmental Quality Division to schedule staff to monitor sound levels during the festival inside the park, in St. Nicholas and other neighborhoods on the Southbank and north of Metropolitan Park.
City Environmental Engineering Manager Steve Pace estimated the overtime cost at $2,000 to monitor the sound levels for 12 hours each day of the festival.
Pace said conducting a noise-level study during the festival would give the department "some hard data" concerning how sound travels from the park into surrounding areas.
Lee said if the funds aren't available in the City Parks & Recreation Department budget, she'll ask the Council Auditor to charge the cost to the Metropolitan Park Maintenance and Improvement Trust Fund.
Acts scheduled to perform at "Welcome to Rockville" include Alice in Chains, Limp Bizkit, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Three Doors Down.
In a news release announcing the event, promoters stated "Welcome to Rockville" is the first of five festivals at outdoor venues from Florida to Oklahoma that comprise "The World's Loudest Month."
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