The Blue Oval purchased the naming rights to the Ford Amphitheater some time ago, which is a new entertainment venue developed and built by a company called Venu, though programmed and operated by AEG Presents. The 8,000-person Ford Amphitheater is located in the Polaris Pointe development of Colorado Springs, Colorado, giving visitors views of Pikes Peak in a state of the art entertainment venue. However, since the venue opened last year, it has been the subject of multiple noise violation complaints from local residents, which operators have worked to mitigate. Now, those efforts continue, months later.
According to KOAA News, Venu plans on building two additional sound walls on the north and south boundaries of the Ford Amphitheater, as well as a sound tunnel at its entrance designed to redirect sound away from the surrounding neighborhoods. Venu also plans to tweak its sound system to keep it more contained within the venue, along with three new sound monitoring systems to ensure that it doesn’t exceed legal limits.
“From the very beginning, we made a promise to be great neighbors, and that promise remains at the heart of everything we do, said J.W. Roth, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Venu. We deeply appreciate the patience of our community as we work through this process – gathering reliable data with our industry partners, crafting blueprints and action plans with our architects and engineers and collaborating closely with the City of Colorado Springs.”
These latest efforts to address the concerns of local residents come after much controversy and even the formation of a group called Ford Hurts Families, which attempted to rope the automaker itself into the scandal. Last month, the City of Colorado Springs hosted a neighborhood listening session, inviting those that live near the Ford Amphitheater to come out and discuss noise mitigation strategies with executives from Venu, along with local leaders as well.
Comment
The sound walls were promised by Roth to be the mitigation solution for this season’s music. Immediately after recieving a “Hardship Waiver” allowing excessive noise, he cancelled building the walls indefinitely. Smoke and mirrors? The homes surrounding the venue are suffering great harm from excessive noise coming through closed windows!