Politics & Government
Mansfield Selectmen Balk at Additional Stages at Comcast Center
Mansfield Selectmen hear from Comcast Center on new stages and liquor licenses.
Selectmen continued a hearing for the alteration of a liquor license at the Comcast Center until February 15 this week, and asked the concert center's general manager Bruce Montgomery to provide the board with clearer representations of the property in question the next time around.
The license pertains to a newly created entertainment area that was carved out of the parking lot recently, in response to a flurry of noise complaints that came to selectmen and police during the August 20 Identity Festival.
At the Identity event, and at others where electronic music is presented on a separate stage, the trajectory of the sound was presenting problems, so Montgomery proposed changing the location of the stage, placing it behind a hill on Lot 11, and aiming the sound in a different direction.
Wednesday, he asked for an alteration in the liquor license for the separate stage location, and said he wanted to include Lot 10, the original site of the stage, as a possible addition to the new performance area.
The sketches of the various locations of the stage and layout of the lot did not meet the board's expectations, and Montgomery's explanation that some festivals require more than one additional stage did not please some board members.
"This is the first I am hearing of three to four stages," said member Olivier Kozlowski.
"We want the flexibility to move the stage," Montgomery said. "Most nights we will not use it." He said the area that is used for these performances will be temporarily fenced.
"Some of us are leery of the movement of that stage," said member George Dentino. "We have located it to minimize the sound. We should stay with the stage faced in that direction."
Montgomery replied he really wanted to keep the ability to adjust the location of the stage or stages to the requirements of the performers.
"We set up shows the best we can," he said. "We ask not to have restrictions put on us that affect the sound mitigation. We've done it differently for almost every show. They are all temporary stages, and the configuration is different for every show."
The actual negotiations for the renewal of the entertainment license for Comcast have not been concluded, and Montgomery said he had no objection to continuing the hearing.