Amphitheatre Revisited

The process for Roanoke to add a commercial amphitheatre to our cultural and quality of life mix took another turn last week and I went with it. A clear goal of mine on council was to help prevent victory stadium type sagas by encouraging decisive and progressive decisions on potential capital projects. I pushed too early on this one and have learned many lessons in the process.

I have written on this blog the many reasons why the location decision for the amphitheatre was a difficult and close one in my mind and why I chose the river site by a narrow margin. Among many concerns I had were: can a “commercial” amphitheatre fit in Elmwood park, what will happen with the much needed downtown greenspace and trees, what about the library and the new social security building and perhaps most importantly what will happen with our vibrant community events and festivals that traditionally use Elmwood park.

Last week an awesome team of promoters, architects and engineers presented their assessments of both sites based on significant experience in our market and the outdoor pavilion market, on-site engineering and soil analysis, and real construction cost assessments. They used all previous studies on this topic. They chose Elmwood for multiple reasons but primary among them was the close proximity to our vibrant downtown. I have always agreed with this but had those other concerns which they answered clearly: it can fit, the design will actually improve the park’s greenspace, an outdoor concession area will improve the library, the park can be used at times outside of major events, there is a possibility of an ice skating rink within the amphitheatre for year-round usage, the design includes our star as a statement of being progressive, and they now believe these pavilions can and should work with community organizations and events and share what will be an extraordinary outdoor facility-including high school graduations and festivals.

The pavilion will include 3000 covered seats and 2000 lawn seats, professional back of house and concessions that can be used throughout the year. Yes it is very expensive but cheaper than the river- $12 million versus $21 million. The facility at the river had many assets and perhaps some day we can bring our river and our great greenway and athletic field system there more into our quality of life fold for all citizens. We need to keep showing off our river and our mountain in multiple ways!

Can we afford to start building the Elmwood Pavilion or whatever it will come to be known as- certainly not now and in this economic environment. However, I do believe that cities that come out of a recession best are the ones that have begun capital projects with ties to economic development during the recession. I do not believe all capital projects need to stopped but just slowed. I support a full market building renovation as our highest priority but I also believe we can continue moving down the road on the amphitheatre process by beginning architecture and engineering documents so that a future council at a future and appropriate time can start construction. Councils prior to this one have planned and started this process long ago and bond money will be coming to parks and recreation department for this and other projects over the next few years.

So I changed my mind- while it was hard with my initial decision, this time around it was actually very easy given the professional design and mangement team we now have in place. I hope to keep them and the process moving forward.

What are your thoughts?

-Dave