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| Proposal to relocate Amphitheater to "Park Parcel" |
Well, this is interesting and moderately big news. The City and Rotary Club just
announced a substantial revision to the Amphitheater plan and the Riverfront Park Master Plan:
[The two parties] have agreed that a better location for the Gerry Frank | Rotary Amphitheater is in the currently undeveloped 3.8-acre park property at the southeast end of Riverfront Park.
The new location will be incorporated into the new Riverfront Park Master Plan, which is in its final stages of completion. Only a small distance from the original site, this new location provides additional opportunities to use open space when performances are not taking place.
It looks to offer better loading and access from the parking lot, retains better views of the river and slough and birds, and it's hard to think of ways right off the bat that the proposal is bad. So, it passes the first test and might even be a major improvement. It will be interesting to hear of meaningful critique, if there is any.
4 comments:
With luck it also reorients the performance stage so that people aren’t squinting right at the western sun. That seemed like a big risk in the prior iteration.
The new location has some advantages and some adverse impacts. The noise from the railroad will have a much greater impact on concerts unless a very high wall or berm is constructed. The noise impacts on downtown residents will be greater during concerts. The view of the river will be reduced for concert goers, especially if trees line the venue as shown on plans. The access for setup and removal for the concerts would be easier as would access for handicapped. The parking lot would probably still be closed to most users during big events.
More detail is needed to assess the change. The reasons for the change have not been presented.
It remains to be seen based on the implementation details, but this may resolve one of my main concerns with the previous site: that through bike/ped traffic to/from the Minto bridge maybe blocked during large events.
For its June 10th meeting, Council has an item to "authorize the City Manager to execute the attached ground lease agreement with the Rotary Club of Salem for constructing a new performance facility at Riverfront Park."
The current amphitheater estimate is $4 million, and the City's park development cost on the 4 acre park parcel is almost $3 million. Rotary will lease a little over 2 acres for the construction and a period of not more than 7 years.
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