Denver City Council gave approval on Monday night to a controversial plan to bring a three-day music festival to Overland Park Golf Course that will close the course for play for five weeks each September and early October starting in 2018.
That’s the first of five years in which Superfly Productions will hold the festival the second or third weekend of September at Overland, a course which dates back more than 120 years.
Denver City Council approved the plan by a 10-3 vote despite opposition by many in the community.
“Just in my gut, it seems like the wrong location to me,” said councilman Kevin Flynn, who voted no on the festival along with Debbie Ortega and Paul Kashmann. “Ultimately it just feels wrong to use a golf course for this.”
But there was plenty of support for the plan as well.
“The community will absolutely be better off,” said councilman Jolon Clark, whose district includes the Overland neighborhood. “The devil is in the details of these plans and that’s what I like about this contract. It doesn’t just say ‘OK, now go do it.’ It says that now you have to prove that every step of the way you understand the concerns, that you’re mitigating the concerns, that you’re rebuilding this community, that you’re engaging this community.”
It’s anticipated that the music festival will draw 30,000 to 40,000 people per day to Overland in 2018. Daily attendance is limited to 80,000, according to the contract.
Superfly will pay a fee of $200,000 to rent the course for the five-week period following Labor Day, with time included for set-up and tear-down. The city will also receive a 10 percent seat tax, with $2 per ticket going to a golf fund and $1 to a community fund. The organizers will pay $90,000 for landscaping repair work and $25,000 that goes toward discounts for Overland golfers who want to play other City of Denver courses.
Under the agreement, Superfly is required to restore all aspects of Overland to its normal condition, including the turf at the course.
