While elected officials in Irvine have emphasized a commitment to building a permanent amphitheater inside the Great Park, on Tuesday, July 25, the Great Park Board of Directors opted to terminate negotiations with concert promoter Live Nation. 

Despite an effort by Great Park Director Tammy Kim to postpone the agenda item to the following Great Park Board Meeting, Board Members spent more than four hours listening to public testimony and questioning representatives of Live Nation.

By a 3-2 vote, Board Members agreed to a motion suggested by Great Park Director Larry Agran that effectively ends the city’s previous design, construction and operation agreement (DCOA) with Live Nation, as well as directs Irvine City Manager Oliver Chi to present options for a timeline and process on the steps forward within the next 90-days.

Specifically, in their vote to end negotiations with Live Nation, the directors are seeking a pathway toward an 8,000 to 10,000 seat amphitheater, as a complementary component to the Great Park Framework plan. The hope is to build a venue that would ensure zero impact to residential noise levels.

As Live Nation and Irvine part ways, Irvine will focus on how to leverage the yet-to-be built venue into a revenue stream, opting for it to become a venue open to all promoters. The city will also issue a request for proposal for a third-party operator.

Kim, a member of the Great Park Amphitheater Subcommittee, who ultimately voted in favor of Agran’s motion, said she was asked to agendize the item for discussion, and wanted to show her commitment to continuing negotiations with the well-known promoter. Kim added that she opted to postpone the special meeting discussion but was unable to do so due to procedural complications. 

While many alterations have been made to the DCOA since its origin, the newest version of the 74-page agreement was released on July 18, just two days prior to Tuesday’s meeting, giving residents and city staff little time to digest its nuances. 

“In my opinion, we’re not ready,” she said. “I’ve asked this to be continued, residents — including myself — only had from Friday to look at the DCOA, my colleagues have not had an adequate time to take a look at it. I don’t think it’s in the best interest of our residents to ram this through.” 

Per the original DCOA which was signed in September, Live Nation and the city of Irvine were set to engage collaboratively on aspects of the venue’s design as a key component of the city’s $1 billion Great Park Framework Plan.  

Live Nation also agreed to contribute $20 million toward the proposed 14,000 seat amphitheater. A base operating fee of 3.5%, with an annual increase of 3%, was included in the original DCOA. 

Mike Carroll, Chairman of the Great Park Board, and the other half of the Amphitheater Subcommittee admitted that while the DCOA was the product of a dozen iterations involving thousands of hours of work, he was confident the terms remained economical for the city. 

Both Carroll and Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan voted against Agran’s motion.

“The deal is economically, substantially better; there are parameters that have been changed significantly. The subcommittee has worked really hard with this joint venture partner to do something very meaningful and positive,” he said.

More recently, however, discussions surrounding the venue’s actual seating capacity have been a source of concern for residents, who fear a venue of that size would only invite more noise and traffic to Irvine.  In February, it was unclear if Live Nation would support the project at a reduced capacity of under 14,000. 

Dozens of residents spoke out against the project during Tuesday’s special meeting, many of them voicing their frustration over the lack of time they were given to review the item. 

Lastly, per terms of Agran’s motion, Irvine will create an Amphitheater project review committee consisting of Kim and one other Council Member. 

“I would love to continue working with Live Nation. But with that being said, I continue to maintain my position that the Irvine Amphitheater must be a truly open venue that’s open to all promoters,” she said. 

On Wednesday, July 26, Live Nation issued the following statement in response to Irvine Weekly’s request for comment on the matter.

“As the City continues to debate plans for the permanent amphitheater, we remain committed to supporting live music in Orange County as we have for the last 40 years. At every phase of this process, we have responded diligently to the requests and concerns of council members and staff. We’ve invested in both the temporary amphitheater and in the process to build a permanent amphitheater. We will focus on operating FivePoint Amphitheater for this season and are open to any future discussions to build a permanent amphitheater in Orange County.”

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