Clear Channel submits plan to dim the din at amphitheater
Even as proposal is offered, promoter again asks county to ease noise restrictions.
By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER, Times Staff Writer
Published August 30, 2005
TAMPA - For the first time since it opened the Ford Amphitheatre last summer amid catcalls from neighbors that concerts were too loud, Clear Channel Entertainment has publicly declared how it will reduce the noise.
Sort of.
The music industry giant turned in nine pages late Monday designed to explain how it will limit concert noise from the likes of Judas Priest and Korn. But only one paragraph explains what it is that Clear Channel is offering to do, and even that is vague.
Aside from "other potential physical improvements" that aren't described in the document, Clear Channel suggested two remedies: repositioning lawn speakers and installing a barrier to absorb sound.
Yet Clear Channel is still asking that the county ease its noise restrictions to allow, until 11 p.m., some bass-heavy bands to generate sound that can register 10 decibels higher at nearby homes than what is now permitted.
While it may not sound like much, an increase of 10 decibels sounds twice as loud to a human ear. That level would remain in the range that made residents complain last year about The Roots and 311.
"I'm sure that will raise a red flag with residents," said Mike John, a Pinellas County sound engineer unassociated with the case who looked over the proposal at the request of the Times. "For Clear Channel to ask to go from 65 decibels to 75 decibels, that's not doing much to reduce the noise."
Clear Channel's proposal is a court-ordered effort to settle a lawsuit filed in January by Hillsborough County officials who claim the amphitheater violates local noise rules.
Officials with the Environmental Protection Commission, which enforces the noise ordinance, will have three weeks to review it and ask Clear Channel for more information. A public hearing with residents who live near the concert venue on Interstate 4 would then be scheduled before county commissioners vote on it in October.
During the settlement period, Clear Channel and county officials have agreed not to comment about the case. Clear Channel is also allowed to lobby commissioners to explain its latest proposal.
EPC attorney Rick Tschantz did say that Monday's document was Clear Channel's "most sincere offer that they've made," but added it would take weeks for officials to have it analyzed by sound engineers.
Clear Channel's attorney, Don Conwell, devoted most of the document to arguing why the county's noise ordinance is unfair, which he has done during much of the case.
"The noise rules being applied to the Ford Amphitheatre are substantially different from those being applied to similar facilities and events," Conwell wrote.
It's not clear what the county's sound engineers will be able to analyze because the document is heavy on legal arguments, but light on acoustic measures that can be tested.
In its offer to reposition the lawn speakers, Conwell wrote that Clear Channel would only "consider" the effect of the speakers to determine "whether" they should be tinkered with. It didn't explain where the speakers might go, or at what angle.
While lawn speakers are addressed, there's no mention of what to do with other speakers, including the ones that bands like to stack on stage to amplify their songs.
As for the barrier, which isn't described, it will be installed "based on (Clear Channel's) sound consultant's recommendation." Again, the recommendation isn't included.
Design details can be important in a case like this, considering that EPC officials argued earlier this year that Clear Channel didn't build the amphitheater the way it promised, resulting, they say, in more noise escaping to disturb residents.
John, the sound engineer, said it's possible that Clear Channel can fix the problem and still have loud concerts to please fans.
"But it won't be cheap," John said. "Something like this could cost half a million dollars."
