Northside Neighbors Association decries the city’s excess-noise permit for Ford Amphitheater, calls it an undemocratic “blank check”

Colorado Springs, Colo., Aug. 26, 2024 — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A month before the massive outdoor Ford Amphitheater opened its doors, the City of Colorado Springs issued a so-called “blanket permit” for the venue that sets no upper limit on noise affecting nearby homes.

Thanks to the amphitheater, the heavily residential northside of Colorado Springs has become ground zero for intolerable noise pollution. Every week since the August 9 opening, nearby residents have been blasted late into the night with concert noise, pyrotechnic explosions, and even amplified F-bombs from the stage. Hundreds of noise complaints are pouring in. Our city is making international headlines.

Northside Neighbors Association, a group of residents committed to protecting and improving the quality of life in northern Colorado Springs, has been inundated with messages from distressed residents. Some of their stories are heartbreaking:

·        Quiet summer evenings spent outdoors are a thing of the past. Many residents report elevated levels of stress and anxiety.

·        As concert noise penetrates indoors, people with hearing disorders say they can’t hold conversations or watch TV in their own homes.

·        Medical professionals who work early shifts say they can’t get to sleep, potentially affecting their patient care.

·        Parents report trouble getting their kids to bed, especially on school nights.

We’ve heard from people who have moved bedrooms within their home to avoid the noise. And this is to say nothing of possible destruction of property values in the area.

A Colorado law called the Noise Abatement Act says noise levels affecting residential zones can’t exceed 50 decibels (dBA) after 7:00 p.m. Ford and the City have ignored the law, and Ford has blown past the limits it sets. Preliminary results from our independent expert show the venue is exceeding 50 dBA at nearly all residential locations measured. The citizen photos and videos pouring in to our Instagram page (@NorthsideNeighbors) confirm this. Residents are reporting and recording noise levels in excess of 60 dBA at their homes.

The venue’s owner says it is operating within “limits” set by the City. These limits are more fictitious than real. We have a copy of the excess-noise permit the City issued for the venue on July 9. It doesn’t contain a noise limit. It merely says the venue must keep noise to a “minimum.” That standard is so vague it is virtually impossible to violate. It’s essentially a blank check.

The only numerical limit of which we are aware is a requirement that noise levels not exceed 110 dBA inside the venue. The real issue, however, is the noise level at surrounding homes. That is what state law regulates, and it is where the harms of noise pollution are being felt. In an email shared with us, a spokesperson for the City pointed to the internal 110 dBA limit but admitted that Ford’s permit “does not currently include any decibel limits” and “there is no particular noise level the amphitheater cannot exceed when measured at nearby residential zones.”

Imagine that all of us have to drive under 50 mph, but the City gives one driver a special license to go as fast as he wants—60, 70, or even 110 mph. That’s both unfair and dangerous. Noise limits, like speed limits, are in place to protect everyone.

It’s not just state law being violated here. The City’s own noise ordinance requires excess-noise permits to be issued (1) by the Mayor, (2) for a “temporary duration,” and (3) only after finding that certain conditions are met. Ford’s permit does not meet any of these requirements. It wasn’t issued by the Mayor. Instead, an employee in the police department issued the permit without making any of the findings required by law.

Nor is the permit temporary. It’s what the City calls a “blanket” permit. It covers every event at Ford Amphitheater for all of 2024. And we have obtained internal emails suggesting that city employees plan to grant Ford blanket permits just like this year after year after year. More blank checks.

In effect, through a series of behind-the-scenes bureaucratic maneuvers, the City has legislated an exception to its noise ordinance specifically for Ford. It did this without following any kind of legal process. Citizens weren’t notified. There were no public hearings. No revised ordinance was drawn up. City Council never voted on anything. The “annual blanket permits” are an orchestrated giveaway with no semblance of transparency, democratic legitimacy, or due process of law.

The Mayor and City Council need to course-correct. The permitting process should be public and transparent. The City’s noise ordinance should be followed. At the very least, Ford should be held to the limits set by state law.

Because of the amphitheater, northside residents are reporting real and repeated injury: psychological stress, sleep deprivation, diminishment of physical health, invasion of privacy, loss of the use and enjoyment of their property, and more. These harms are only just beginning to manifest. When you add up the mental distress, health effects, and economic losses,  measured across tens of thousands of northside residents, night after summer night, year after year indefinitely, the sum and scale of the potential injuries are staggering.

Northside Neighbors Association is committed to holding Ford Amphitheater and the City of Colorado Springs accountable both to the law and to the citizens who are being forced to bear the brunt of harmful noise pollution. Follow updates on our pending public-nuisance lawsuit (currently on appeal) at www.sunsetlawsuit.org.