PROVO — Opposition was taking shape Tuesday to a large, live performance amphitheater proposed around a gravel pit in Provo Canyon.
Project scale and capacity
The Vesper Amphitheater development would sit on approximately 100 acres and would feature indoor seating of 3,000 to 8,000 with a summer outdoor seating capacity of up to 20,000, according to those behind the project.
Community concerns and noise impacts
In the two weeks since the public announcement on May 19, neighbors and concerned canyon visitors have raised a host of concerns, from impacts on wildlife to the potential fire hazard, and from traffic backups to noise.
“You’re going to be able to hear that if you’re fly fishing on the river, mountain biking up in the foothills of Timpanogos, mountain biking below Cascade Mountain, and I don’t think people want to hear that,” said Willie Holdman, a Heber-based photographer and an avid outdoorsman.
Public opposition via petition
Organizers also started an online petition urging developers and Provo city leaders to reconsider the plan. As of 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, it had over 1,500 signatures.
“That’s just not the ‘stage’ that we need there at the mouth of Provo Canyon,” Holdman told KSL. “I was like, ‘Provo Canyon? There’s no room in Provo Canyon for something like that.'”
Developers defend project goals
The developers in a Tuesday evening phone call with KSL stood by the purpose of the project.
“We love the canyon just like everybody else and that’s part of what’s driving us,” said Vesper Amphitheater owner and CEO Spencer Shumway. “There are some that are not liking it, but they haven’t looked into it like maybe they should.”
Mitigation and land conservation plans
Shumway and amphitheater executive director David Osmond said they had plans to mitigate noise and light pollution and that “there are solutions to be had” in terms of traffic and parking.
Osmond said there would be “very few” opportunities during the year to completely pack the venue to its top capacity.
According to Shumway, the developers currently owned 26 acres in the area and hoped to do a land swap with Provo City for the remaining space.
He said they planned to put over 50 acres into a conservation easement.
The development would also include over 20 new trails and greater access, Osmond said.
“I don’t think the rock quarry is what anybody wants,” Shumway said. “It’s either we stop that gravel pit from going or it just keeps going on and on.”
Future legislative and city steps
According to Provo City officials, the matter as of Tuesday evening was expected to go before the planning commission in a meeting scheduled for June 24, while the city council was expected to weigh in during its July 14 meeting.
A spokesperson for the city declined Tuesday to comment about the project due to its preliminary status.
“When I think about restoration, I think about restoring it back to how it was, not adding more to it,” said Holdman.
He hoped the developers would somehow choose to move the project out of the canyon.
“I think it’s just not a good place for a venue,” Holdman said. “Provo Canyon, it’s just a different experience. It’s an experience to get away from that.”
Holdman also urged city leaders to think carefully about the ramifications of the project.
“Just me as a citizen, I feel like it’s my duty and my right as a stakeholder in the canyon to share what I think is right, to share what I think is best for the canyon,” Holdman said. “I’m hoping the planning commission and Provo City Council will kind of see the same sight that maybe I see or some other people see and they’ll think this through a lot more diligently and think about the impacts it’s really going to have on everything.”
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