When the Breakaway Music Festival rolled into the lots just outside Allianz Field last year, window-rattling dance music and F-bombs from the mic followed, with noise carrying for miles away. Organizers called the event a commercial success, but ensuing noise complaints flooded St. Paul Police lines, as well as the phone lines of the city council.
Music festival organizers promised the touring electronic dance music series would return to Allianz Field this year with sound-shielding improvements. On Wednesday, following an hour-long city council discussion, their sound level variance requests for June 6 and June 7 won the support of the majority of the council with a 4-2 vote, over the objections of city staff.
Rather than turn down the volume, the council voted to allow the Breakaway Music Festival an even higher decibel limit than they were approved for a year ago.
To mitigate the noise, the music festival plans to reorient its speakers away from Cub Foods and toward Allianz Field, and use a different speaker system, as well as an online feedback portal so organizers can assess complaints in real-time and conduct sound testing in any problem areas as the event unfolds.
“We are going to dispatch a team physically to that location,” said festival president Jarrod Fucci, addressing the city council on Wednesday.
The Breakaway Music Festival drew thousands of fans of electronic dance music to the stage set up outside Allianz Field in St. Paul June 28 to June 29, 2024. It also drew plenty of noise complaints from as far away as Highland Park and even outside the city. The festival, which ended at 11 p.m. both nights, drew patrons to bars like the Midway Saloon for after-parties. (Frederick Melo / Pioneer Press)
Monitoring decibel levels
The city’s Department of Safety and Inspections will maintain a staffer at the event, and festival organizers will be required to monitor the decibel levels from an approved distance from each noise source and create a report that records the general operating levels within 15 minutes of the start of each act, as well as at intervals no greater than 60 minutes apart after that.
Fucci said the event might be canceled if organizers did not get their requested variances, and that they were looking for different concert venues within the capital city for future years.
“Candidly, honestly, it depends how this goes,” he told the council. “We want to stay within the city of St. Paul.”
“It is not lost on me that our event was disruptive,” Fucci added, emphasizing that the festival has been working with the Union Park District Council and city officials to consider any neighborhood impacts, including noise. “Dance music fans are really unique. They have a really high expectation for the execution of these events. … In order for this event to be sustainable, we want to continue to deliver an excellent audio experience.”
Two noise resolutions generate confusion
The council was presented Wednesday with two versions of a potential sound level variance resolution, each with different decibel limits and other conditions, generating some confusion and protracted discussion.
Council Member Anika Bowie, who represents the stadium area, attempted to fuse aspects of each version, drawing concerns from three fellow council members who urged her to hold off on a vote for a week. She chose to push forward anyway.
Bowie said the festival organizers had been “really transparent and honest” about past challenges and how they would mitigate those issues going forward. “I appreciate them promoting our city. … It seemed like the organizer really took into consideration all of our concerns.”
Last year, the festival asked to be allowed a sound level variance with a limit of 103 decibels at 125 feet from the main stage, but the council approved only 97 decibels at 50 feet. The festival likely operated at 103 decibels anyway, according to city staff. Festival organizers this year again requested — and were approved for — sound level variances for 103 decibels at 125 feet from the main stage, as well as a limit of 101 decibels at 100 feet from their secondary stage.
Both limits are above the noise levels associated with a typical outdoor concert, or even a construction site, DSI staff said.
The city’s Department of Safety and Inspections had recommended a 30-minute earlier end time — 10:30 p.m. — and that the festival compensate the city up to $640 for 10 hours of staff overtime to have a DSI inspector monitoring sound on-site throughout the event. The council and festival organizers agreed to both conditions.
The request for a higher decibel limit, however, was not supported by DSI, and drew probing questions from council members.
Last year, “community members literally had buildings shaking,” said Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, who voted against the sound level variance. “If the orientation of the stage has changed, but the sound level has not, and we’re recommending a higher sound level this year than what we allowed last year, is the hope that the staff presence would gain compliance? … I just want us to make sure we’re being consistent with festivals, no matter what the genre.”
DSI recommends lower limit
DSI had recommended a sound limit of 100 decibels at 100 feet from the main stage, and 99 decibels at 75 feet from the secondary stage.
The city council appeared poised to approve the second version of the resolution until Bowie realized that it included the lower limits recommended by DSI. She then asked for amendments joining the two versions, incorporating the higher decibel limits, the earlier end time and compensation for the DSI staffer in one resolution.
Council Member Nelsie Yang joined Council President Rebecca Noecker and Johnson in urging Bowie to delay a vote for another week, which would give the council more time to consider her suggested amendments.
“It just seems like there’s just a lot of back and forth right now, and I would motion for a layover,” Johnson said.
Added Yang later, “This is just an example, for me, of something that could have been done behind the scenes. It sounds like there’s room for negotiation and compromise.”
Bowie, after receiving reassurance from staff that a “no” vote would still allow her to introduce the original version of the resolution if need be, pushed forward.
“It just seems like it makes sense to give them a threshold they can work with, and they’re not going to be at the max of 103 (decibels) the entire time,” she said. “I think the proper adjustments have been made.”
The vote
Bowie, Yang, Saura Jost and Matt Privratsky then voted to support the amended noise variance at the 103 decibel limit, and Noecker and Johnson voted against it. Council Vice President HwaJeong Kim was absent.
Fucci told the council performers will include the American DJ John Summit, Dutch DJ Tiesto, Australian DJ Alison Wonderland, and about 20 national and 60 St. Paul-area performers. Some 12,000 visitors arrived each day of the two-day festival last year, for 24,000 in total, bringing with them $2 million in ticket sales and as much as $6 million in economic impact for the area.
Privratsky, who lives just north of the site, said, “I firmly believe having more events and more things going on in the city is better for the community, and also at this site, where we put significant public dollars into building out the Allianz Field district.”
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