Craig Gilbert | [email protected]
Jasper town councillors voted unanimously Sept. 18 to approve the name selected by CN Rail for the $800,000 stage to be constructed at Commemoration Park.
The name will remain a secret until revealed by the railroad.
The permanent structure would alleviate at least some of the concerns of resident Tina Gibbons, who wrote to Mayor Richard Ireland to complain about the noise from the recent Jasper Folk Music Festival.
She said her house vibrated from the sound so much she worried it would knock pictures off her walls, which are 100 feet from where the main stage was. She said a diesel generator ran for “72 hours straight” in front of her house.
“Is there another option?” she wrote. “Possibly at a campground? The airfield? Maybe down Sleepy Hollow Road? It seems like it was pretty easy to set up a housing camp on that road. Why not use some of that land a few weekends a year for these event. These things need to have space to work and that space should not be in the middle of a residential area.”
Town CAO Mark Fercho said the intent is to collect feedback related to the Pyramid Lake Road closure and the festival itself. He added underground cables linking the proposed stage site to the power grid would eliminate the need for generators.
Councillors including Paul Butler and Jenna McGrath said the JFMF fell within the parameters of the town’s new field use policy, which was settled upon after weeks of discussions open to the public.
“The move to a new field means the impact is on different residents, but there’s always been an effect,” Butler said. “In fact, (the JFMF) is aligned with our policy, which we undertook with quite a lot of public discussion.”
“The park is a great facility and the stage will make it even greater,” Coun. Bert Journault said. “It’s a great addition and we should be proud of it.”
The full text of Gibbons' letter follows:
To The Town of Jasper,
I am writing in regard to the recent Jasper Heritage Folk Festival that took place last weekend in the field on Pyramid Lake Road.
live on Pyramid Lake Road with my husband and 2 young children and we have approved accommodation in our home.
I am writing to express my concern with this festival and others public events being held in this field and within the town site in general.
I am sure that you can imagine the level of noise that we heard when our home sits less than 100 ft away from the main stage and the later it went into the evening the louder it got. It was like a concert in our house.
My house vibrated so much that I expected things to fall off the walls. My family was unable to get to sleep at a reasonable time (my husband had to work in the morning) and my guests checked out because of the festival.
There was an industrial generator that run for 72 hours straight, right in front of our house. I'm sure that goes against the noise bylaw.
The one side of the road was closed to traffic which caused confusion for drivers, particularly those not from here who then ended up driving the wrong way down the other side of the street.
This was dangerous for our local kids who do not expect a car to be coming the wrong way. Holding an event of this kind in the town site is disruptive not only to those that live as close as we do but for blocks in every direction.
I did not fully appreciate how the people that live around Centennial Park felt until this past week. We always heard the music when the festival was held at Centennial Park but having it outside our front door made us realize just how disturbing it is
I know that it is one weekend but in that weekend we lost income and lost sleep. We are not able to get either of those things back. A residential area is not an appropriate place for a music festival. I think that it would make sense for the Town of Jasper and Parks Canada to collectively look at this issue in the long term.
These types of events; the folk fest, the rodeo, the dark sky festival all need a place to be held if they are going to continue. There has been significant money spent on rehabilitating Centennial Park and commemoration field, it does not make sense to hold these types of events on these fields and risk damaging them so that they are not useable for sports
This is directly off the Municipality's website:
Asset Management
To successfully manage the challenges around short growing seasons and too few sports fields available in our community, the Municipality will develop a field use policy to ensure our assets remain in good condition. Decisions and choices around priority uses and field limitations (weather conditions, frequency of use, etc.) will be required to ensure our fields remain in good condition – otherwise they may become unusable in the future.
Holding these types of public events on these fields does not seem to support this statement.
Is there another option? Possibly at a campground? The airfield? Maybe down sleepy hollow road? It seems like it was pretty easy to set up a housing camp on that road. Why not use some of that land a few weekends a year for these event. These things need to have space to work and that space should not be in the middle of a residential area.
I have to spoke to many people in this neighborhood who agree with us although I am not sure how many will take the time to have their opinions heard. I hope that council and the administration will take the time to consider this issue and make an effort to come up with something that will be better suited to these public events.
Tina Gibbons
Jasper
