EverBank Field could have an amphitheater. Metropolitan Park already has an amphitheater.
One would be brand new, part of $90 million in upgrades City Council is voting on tonight.
The other has been around for three decades and can’t be used for the time being — not without substantial repairs, that is.
Council and other city leaders might soon have to decide the future of the venue in disrepair.
Metropolitan Park has served as an outdoor music and event venue since 1984. However, it has limitations. Federal law allows only a dozen ticketed events annually and even those at times face scrutiny from residents across the river complaining about noise.
Years of wear and tear have taken its toll on the covered pavilion. The structural deficiencies in the tent were severe enough that a city-hired New York firm in October said it is “not safe to occupy and must be brought down.”
“Whether we have those improvements or not (at EverBank Field), there’s still an issue at Metro Park,” said council member Doyle Carter, head of the Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety Committee.
Carter called it a “stretch” to fix the tented staging area for a price he’s heard could reach $10 million — especially with a venue that could meet the city’s needs being built nearby.
And even if it were rebuilt, he said, noise issues and event limitations would still be there.
Council Vice President Lori Boyer has a firsthand feel for those noise issues.
The Southbank representative said her office over the weekend received at least 10 complaints about noise from The Big Ticket concert Sunday. Council last year approved a slate of regulations and penalties on the venue after the issue came to a head in 2013.
“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “Generally since we passed those rules, everything has been fine.”
The Big Ticket had to construct a staging area at its own “significant” expense, said Mike Yokan, one of the concert’s promoters. It will seek city reimbursement for those extra costs, as the lease allowed for use of the covered stage. He declined to say how much the set-up cost.
“It required some agility on our part,” said Yokan.
The group was informed at the beginning of November about the issues, he said.
The report from FTL Design Engineering Studio saying the stage wasn’t safe to occupy was submitted Oct. 27 to the city.
Tom Goldsbury, the city’s Building Inspection chief, issued a report two days later saying the structure could be used that weekend during Florida-Georgia festivities. He based that on a visual inspection and the load for the event — a tailgate-type function featuring The Band Perry in which the stage was used.
Sam Mousa, Mayor Lenny Curry’s chief administrative officer, last week told council committees reviewing the EverBank Field upgrades the city is waiting to see what an evaluation says could be done to the staging area.
However, he said, the initial indication on the structural side indicated “it’s not in very good shape.”
Should it need to come down, Mousa said the city “got our money’s worth.” But no rash decisions should be made, he said.
Carter said if it isn’t cost effective to repair the staging area, Metropolitan Park still has great purpose.
“I think we still have a nice, open, riverfront space by the river … and with everything we’ve got over there, it can still be a nice recreational project,” he said.
Boyer said with a less-problematic venue coming online across the street, repurposing the park was ideal. Leaving the stage there could be a possibility for lower-key events the park always was intended to host — smaller shows and events like World of Nations.
Like Carter, she would like to see it returned to an open, multiuse and riverfront recreational area.
“We can really make it an active riverfront park,” she said. “I think that becomes more realistic when you stop trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.”
Yokan said after five years of The Big Ticket and the springtime Welcome to Rockville shows, Metropolitan Park has become a home he’d be in favor of keeping.
“It’s a beautiful venue on the water … it’s a large facility, it’s flexible,” he said.
Yokan said he’s hopeful the park can continue as it is, but if it were returned to a “clean slate” then there would still be interest. The flexibility of the site and ease of working with the city have become key over time, he said.
The amphitheater at EverBank Field would be city-owned, but managed and operated by a subsidiary of the Jacksonville Jaguars. A planned multipurpose outdoor practice venue also would be city owned and act as a buffer between the amphitheater and the St. Johns River, which would help alleviate noise concerns.
But, as was said in committees last week, there isn’t a need for two amphitheaters.
“We don’t need them both as is,” said Carter.
That means the older venue could be in line for a change.
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