“It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor… Won’t you be my neighbor?” — Mister Rogers
The 12,000-seat Sunset Amphitheater planned by Colorado company Notes Live will be anything but a good neighbor, particularly for children.
The proposed landsite, owned by Sam Coury and Carol Hefner, near SW 15 and Sara Road, has multiple neighborhoods in the 1-mile bubble around it. Good neighbors do not make plans to get an increased sound decibel level over the city code or extend noise timeframes to 10:30 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends. Notes Live asked for both at the Oklahoma City Planning Commission meeting on Jan. 11. Even an OKC planning commissioner remarked, “It’s not great for the neighbors!”
A quick search on Google on amphitheater complaints garners staggering results. Noise pollution is at the top of the list — specifically, the bass frequencies. We all know that annoyance (cue the booming music of a lowrider truck). But an amphitheater with 12,000 spectators and numerous loudspeakers will be more than just a nuisance. The former U.S. Surgeon General William H. Stewart said, “Calling noise a nuisance is like calling smog an inconvenience. Noise must be considered a hazard to the health of people everywhere.”