TAMPA, FL (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — A December 3rd Alan Jackson concert broke all of the recently-erected rules agreed upon by the Ford Amphitheatre and the Hillsborough County, by cranking up the honky-tonk way above the noise limits.
The Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission was unable to enforce the noise limit, as they agreed to stop citing Ford-owner Clear Channel Entertainment for a year to give it time to muffle concert noise.
“It was one of the loudest concerts I’ve heard yet,” neighbor Edward Schroering told the St. Petersburg Times. “It seems like Clear Channel knows they can’t be cited. They have this free hand to turn it up.”
Schroering was one of 13 nearby homeowners to complain to the county about the concert.
EPC workers recorded sound levels at 23 and 26 decibels higher than allowed.
With such an extreme violation, Rick Garrity, the EPC’s executive director, felt compelled to write a letter to Clear Channel officials in Atlanta seeking explanations.
“The number of complaints indicates to us that something went wrong,” Garrity wrote to G. Wilson Rogers, a top company executive. “Your response to this letter should indicate what specific actions (Clear Channel) will take to prevent a recurrence.”
In a brief email response, Rogers told Garrity, “I’m looking into what went wrong.”
“We will be very proactive in addressing,” he continued.
Commissioners voted 6-1 on November 17th to halt the county’s lawsuit against CCE for the amphitheater’s repeated violations of noise rules. In exchange, Clear Channel agreed to build a $2.5-million sound-absorbing wall, lower the height of lawn speakers, and install sound-limiting electronic devices on speakers. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
