Controversial Fort Adams Summer Concerts Plan Gets City Council OK in 4-3 Vote

Summer concerts at Fort Adams State Park got one step closer to reality Wednesday night after a 4-3 vote by the Newport City Council in favor of a proposal by Newport Waterfront Events to host no more than 10 concerts inside the fort walls between May 22 and July 1.

The division on the City Council reflected the mix of support and opposition among Newporters who have chimed in on the hotly-contested proposal, which had its own workshop last month during which proponents and opponents sounded off on the plan. Mayor Jeanne Marie Napolitano said it has been one of the most contentious issues in the city in recent memory.

Newport Waterfront Events was spun off into a standalone company after the sale of the Newport Yachting Center and closure of its entertainment business last summer.

The former yachting center events included the Newport Summer Concert Series, the Newport Comedy Series, a popular chowder festival, and other events. Newport Waterfront Events scrambled to find alternate venues in the wake of the yachting center sale and settled on Fort Adams for a number of reasons, including its proximity to the water, parking and the fact that it is the only state park in which the state Department of Environmental Management permits alcohol service.

The initial plan was for 26 to 30 events, but NWE has steadily pared down the plan in response to concerns about traffic, noise and the presence of concert-related equipment and facilities at the fort for weeks on end.

The approved plan Wednesday is for no more than 10 events with maximum attendence of 2,000 for eight shows and 2,500 for two shows. All concerts will end by 9:30 p.m. The approval is also conditional on NWE to develop a comprehensive safety and security plan.

While many local businesses, music fans and others cheered NWE’s efforts to find a new home for the popular concerts, along with getting the endorsement of the Fort Adams Trust, the plan has faced stiff opposition from residents who live near the fort.

City Council members said Wednesday night that they have received hundreds of emails and phone calls about the issue, including correspondence from two powerful community associations and a lawyer Turner Scott, who represents more than 30 abutters.

Scott’a primary argument centered on language within the comprehensive plan in regards to the preservation of the integrity and character of neighborhoods and the need for zoning regulations to prevent the encroachment of commercial enterprise on residential zones.

He also said the Fort Adams Trust should not be an entertainment complex and took issue with statements by board members that recent bond-funded improvements were to support efforts to make the fort a better and more marketable venue.

“The bond issue was not for the fort to be an entertainment center,” Scott said, noting that his 31 clients own 42 properties within a mile of Fort Adams and the they pay $1.74 million in residential property taxes. “When they bought their properties, they didn’t sign on for an entertinment center.”

Councilor Kate Leonard, who voted against the plan along with Napolitano and Councilor Marco Camacho, said that the concerns of neighbors outweighed the commercial interest. And she echoed the notion that the Fort Adams Trust’s mission is for historical preservation and education and the proposal “was not the best use of the fort.”

Other concerns have been raised about traffic, with many residents noting that they have trouble getting in and out when the folk and jazz festivals are in action, though their attendance numbers are more than five times the concerts proposed by NWE. Concerns were also raised over people walking to and from the fort after parking at Rogers High School, bicyclists and noise.

“Prior experience of events at the fort implies the possibility of significant traffic jams on Bellevue and Coggeshall,” said James Moore, chairman of the Belleveue-Ochre Point Neighborhood Association. ”There’s a legitimate need to raise money by the trust but it cannot be on the backs of the taxpayer.”

Greg Hall, president of the Fort Adams Trust, said many hours were spent to come up with a reasonable plan. He noted that there has never been a noise violation or complaint for any event ever held at Fort Adams, including the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals.

Millions have been spent on constructing new intermodal facilities to ferry people to and from the fort as well as to “open the fort to position itself for hosting these events,” Hall said. “Think of all this money spent for no reason and not using it for what it was intended — a vibrant piece of town and community.”

“We spent months and we had the word ‘reasonableness’ in mind. Saying no is saying no to business, saying no to tourism and good family entertainment,” Hall said.

Bryan Oakley, a Providence restaurateur and Newport native, said that the plan was an opportunity for local businesses to thrive. He noted that a New York-based company manages the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals. He said he lived in Newport since his mid 20s, worked at the Yachting Center as a teenager and eventually moved to Providence, where he started his business. He ended up getting the concessions job at the Newport Yachting Center’s concerts after asking who ran their concessions and has been doing it every summer since.

His company alone represents 50 people, Oakley said, and Newport Waterfront Events would employ 75 or more. The whole conversation is about people, he said, and after driving down from Providence for several hearings, he said it bothered him that “there are people who live in this town for only a few months a year and they hire a lawyer to represent them instead of coming to a meeting.”

“This is about people who live here and there are valid concerns,” he said. Addressing the City Council, “this is an opportunity for you to control the reins with the Fort Adams Trust and the police and fire department to run this in a better way for a local business that employs 75-plus people.”

Councilor John Florez said the vote Wednesday “comes down to how we want to define ourselves as a city.”

He noted that CNBC recently ranked Rhode Island as the least-business friendly state in the country and Newport has developed a reputation as the least business-friendly city in the state.

“Think about that for a moment,” Florez said. “No one should be terrified about doing business in Newport.”

Florez said there’s no question that the events would be economically advantageous to the city. And he said Newport Waterfront Events has been put through the wringer, with many people even questioning the legitimacy of the company and fretting over its financial backers.

“All these falsehoods are being debunked but still continue to be a part of the narrative,” Florez said, noting that cities like San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, have “addressed balancing the needs of business, community and neighborhoods with more constructive approaches. Usually that involves compromise. Tonight we have the opportunity to restore balance that is badly needed in our city.”

Leonard countered by noting that the concerts are likely to attract people who will stay at the fort for the duration of the concerts and leave when its over. By 10 p.m., there’s little time for people to make their way back downtown to spend money at local businesses, she said.

And she, like many others, noted the propensity of noise violations that occurred at the Newport Yachting Center in recent years. Last year, they were fined after accumulating 11 violations.

“Their track record for violations is not a good track record,” Leonard said. She also said she is aware that the DEM is ill equipped and not staffed enough to handle the security at the fort.

Councilor Justin McLaughlin certainly did embrace the idea of compromise. He said he was initially opposed to the plan but eventually voted in favor with the notion that this summer will be a pilot year.

“It is a lot easier to say no, but I’m not afraid of trying it,” he said. “If we do concerts and we hear from every one of you every night, then it’s not going to happen again.”

Also voting in favor was Councilor Lynne Ceigle, who said the majority of residents she spoke with about the issue were in favor of the concerts.

“I see this pilot program serving as a model in some ways,” she said. “We know that concerts at the yachting center provided critical and significant revenue for the city.”

With the vote, Newport Waterfront Events can now complete its application with the DEM to host the concerts at the state park.