A Missoula City Council committee meeting on Wednesday evening featured public comments about a new music festival that would be held near a residential neighborhood.
The proposed event would be put on by a private promoter and would not cost the taxpayers any money.
After addressing residents near Playfair Park on Monday, music festival producer Scott Osburn producer presented the City Council about the festival's logistics, including the number of people who would attend and how parking would be addressed.
Residents later provided public comments expressing their overwhelming concerns about traffic, noise, and the potential damage the event could bring to Playfair Park.
“I would say that their concerns are totally founded they have every single right to have the concern and be worried about it they are paying property tax this is their community, this is their home everyone deserves peace in their home," one speaker said.
Following a lengthy discussion, the Missoula City Council's Climate Conservation and Parks Committee voted to recommend that the festival not be passed before it is officially voted on at a meeting on November 13, 2023.
Ward 4 City Council Member Amber Sherrill noted that bringing the festival near the neighborhood was not the right fit.
“Ultimately it just didn’t feel like that was the right place for it to go it was going to have some neighborhood impact it was not really for the community as a whole it didn’t feel like it was some great community benefit, and you know the amount of money that was coming back into parks in my opinion wasn’t enough for the community impact”
The motion will now go before the full Missoula City Council meeting where it will be voted on and finalized.
