Document text
Britt manager's optimistic Mediation over complaints begins Dec. 17 By MELISSA MARTIN JACKSONVILLE -- If everyone is creative and flexible, the Peter Britt Music Festivals and neighbors should be able to find a solution during the mediation process, the Britt manager says. "I think there are things that can be done if everybody gets creative and is willing to bend a little," says Ron McUne, festival manager. "It's our hope that the mediation process can bring some resolve to lessen the impact of the festival as far as the neighbors are concerned." McUne is part of the 12-member committee made up of city, county and Britt representatives. They begin meeting Dec. 17 with Ashland mediator Keri Green, whose salary is being paid partly by a $5,000 state grant. The rest will be paid for by equal contributions from the city, the county and Britt, says Paul Korbulic, a manager with Jackson County Parks, which owns the Britt grounds. Jackson County secured the grant from the Department of Land and Development Conservation office. Once the grant is used up, the three parties will start their contributions. The festival began in 1963 as a two-week-long classical festival started by Portland conductor John Trudeau. A pavilion and outdoor theater were built in 1978 on a naturally acoustic hillside that seats about 2,000 people. Today, the Britt festival is three months long with 44 performances - which ranged this year from country superstar Vince Gill and pop diva Judy Collins to the Trinity Irish Dance Company and the young, up-and-coming Squirrel Nut Zippers. But the classical concerts remain at the heart of the summer festival, McUne says. "We feel like we make a diligent effort to live within the restrictions laid out in the conditional use permit," McUne says. "We always strictly end concerts at 10:30 p.m. We try to make a sweep through the neighborhood daily and pick up trash. We keep sound monitoring records and stay within the decibel limits. We try to have the trucks and buses get in and out as quickly as possible so they are not sitting there idling." In response to earlier concerns, a parking lot was built to relieve the problem of concert-goers parking in front of homes. Other changes included reducing the number of times the county rents out the grounds to non-Britt performances. Over the past several years, neighbors have complained about noise, parking, trash, loading equipment and the speed at which concert-goers return to their cars when the music ends. In September, residents submitted a 23-signature petition to the City Council asking for a response to their concerns. This is the first time the county, city and the music festival have taken the complaints to a mediation process. Korbulic also says tension over the concerts wasn't linked to an incident last summer when a neighbor confronted a crew early one morning, as stated in Thursday's Mail Tribune. That incident involved a man who had previously committed neighborhood crimes, including cutting down trees on county property so he could watch Britt concerts without buying a ticket, Korbulic says. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA