City Council to Consider Concerts at the Arena Tuesday

A couple of days before the last basketball game of the season will be played at Kaiser Permanente Arena, the Santa Cruz City Council will consider allowing three test concerts there, despite music not being allowed by the current use permit.

City staff is asking the council to approve three "test" concerts of jazz, instrumental and rock music to see the effects on the area. The city has already approved $18,000 for a noise study and $60,000 to Eddie Scher, who books concerts at the Civic Auditorium to book concerts at the Arena.

In approving the $5 million temporary arena, the city staff had talked about 100 events there yearly to pay down the debt. While concerts were initially thought to be a money maker, the council didn't allow them because neighbors feared they would be too noisy.

The venue can hold 2,505 for basketball and as many as 4,000 for a concert.

City staff is now asking for approval for test concerts, saying that sound tests alone couldn't determine the effects of the noise on neighbors and actual concerts would be the best tests. They also say, in a report to council, that they have been approached by many promoters interested in bringing music to the venue.

"I’m excited that we are going to explore the possibility of live music performances and also glad that we are taking a cautious approach," said Councilman Don Lane. "The success of the arena depends on community support."

Beach Hill resident Don Webber was skeptical.

"Amplified concerts in a fabric-roofed tent with metal walls right next to homes strikes most people as a bad idea," he said. "But Beach Hill neighbors understand that this first batch of test concerts will allow all of us the opportunity to gauge the effect. The city is intent on booking concerts anyway, and testing is better than guessing.

"However, the testing that the city intends to do needs to use a better measurement metric than the one they've used so far to evaluate sound data. The metric they used to measure the sound from the basketball games was so deficient that it was unable to pick up any difference at all between a basketball game and no basketball game. Clearly we expect a better test to be devised for measuring the sound from these amplified test concerts.

The basketball games were very noisy for most of the season — too noisy. But in the last few games, the Warriors agreed to adjust the volume of the public address system, and that improved the situation somewhat. We'll see (or hear) when they start up again next season. They are on the right track, and the folks who live nearby are grateful for that."

The council meets at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.