SturgeonCountyBoonstockdocs.pdf

7/27/2019 SturgeonCountyBoonstockdocs.pdf

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Routing: Council

Delegation: Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services

Written by: Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer

Date August 12, 2013 Page 1 of 8

Briefing Note to Council

Council Meeting Date: August 27, 2013

Subject Post 2013 Boonstock Music Festival Report

Issue To provide Council with the feedback from internal County

Departments and outside Agencies regarding the 2013 Boonstock

Music Festival

Discussion:

The Boonstock Music Festival was held on June 27-30, 2013. According to the organizer the attendance for each day of the four

day event was:

- Thursday June 27th

6,200

- Friday June 28th

8,500

- Saturday June 29th

12,000

- Sunday June 30th

12,000

On July 30, 2013 a meeting occurred with County staff andrepresentatives from every agency involved with Boonstock.

Attendees of that meeting included:- RCMP,

- Alberta Health Services Environmental,

- Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services,

- Alberta Transportation,

- Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission,

- Superior Safety Codes Inc.,

- Sturgeon County Planning and Development,

- Sturgeon County Economic Development, and

- Sturgeon County Protective Services (Bylaw Enforcement & Fire).

After that meeting comments were provided in writing. These areincluded in this Briefing Note.

At the July 30, 2013 meeting, County Departments and allgovernment agencies expressed that if Boonstock were to occur in

2014, a need for a cap to the attendance would be required. This is

a necessity in order for the appropriate planning to take place for

any future Boonstock Music Festivals.

Agenda Item: E.5.1

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Many of the issues that were noted with the 2013 Boonstock eventseem to point to the likelihood that Boonstock, due to its success

and growth over the last number of years, has outgrown its

current site.

- The current site is constrained with a highway to the west, and

river and railway to the east (on an adjacent property). On August 1, 2013, Alberta Transportation sent an email to

Boonstock to discuss the issues noted by AT (As of August 15, 2013

we are unaware of a Boonstock response.)

The RCMP have stated that if Boonstock were to occur in 2014, theRCMP would require manpower to increase 50-100% over 2013

manpower. This is assuming no increase in attendance for 2014.

Relevant Policy/Legislation/Practices:

Assemblage Control Bylaw #476/83. Land Use Bylaw 819/96

Implications Sturgeon County Department Feedback:

Bylaw Enforcement

13 people were charged with trespassing offences, with anadditional 16 warnings

One recovered stolen vehicle, which was turned over to the RCMPfor investigation

One parking ticket written on TWP 564 One compliant regarding noise after 3 a.m. RCMP requested the assistance of one Peace Officer with traffic on

Highway 28 on Thursday June 27

One person was stopped and turned over to the RCMP forimpaired driving

Several traffic and liquor offences were observed There were 8 provincial traffic tickets writtenFire Services

Controls to limit the attendance for the event in the future mustbe in place and adhered to.

This year access/egress in the camping area was improved fromprevious years

The volunteer camping/volunteer parking area needs to be evenbetter organized

Signs need to be on site that read No Open Fires - No Fireworks The organizer must ensure that dedicated ambulance access and

egress/turnaround needs to be unobstructed at all times

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The organizer should have a fuel truck available on site for publicwhen departing for those who run out of fuel (while waiting in line

to leave).

The organizer needs to include a dedicated taxi stand/pick up area There need to be more maps of the campground in the camp

ground area.

External Agency Feedback:

RCMP

Traffic on Hwy 28 and 28A - On Thursday June 27, traffic on Hwy 28was backed up more than 2km from the site. The RCMP need to

have a member at the turn off into Gibbons to deal with traffic.

Having traffic backed up on the over pass was dangerous and it

narrowed the lanes to the point that any large load vehicles could

not get through. Traffic on Hwy 28A was backed up an estimated 8

km at the peak hours. On top of the disruption caused by traffic

being stopped on the Highway, many of the people in the traffic line

were consuming large quantities of alcohol, walking on the Highway

and causing further disruption. If the organizer had all of the ticket

booths up and running the site still did not have the capacity to get

the vehicles off of the highways.

The event was short staffed in area's that had to do with securityand infrastructure. On the Friday and the Saturday traffic built up

on Hwy 28 again. On the Friday it built up to the point that there

was congestion where 28 and 28A converge. This creates a serioustraffic safety concern. At that time the parking area for the ticket

booths was mostly empty. There was only one employee trying to

sort vehicles into 6 different lines. Police took several members

away from their planned duties and put them in the parking area

because there was no staff available to deal with the

situation. Boonstock organizers advised police that there were no

employees available to organize traffic in the booth lines. The

priority for the event was to have vehicles in the correct lines rather

than getting traffic off of the highway.

Security was difficult to find outside of the concert bowls and theywere not well informed. Security did not know how the liquor lawsapplied in the camp ground and parking lot areas and they were

doing nothing to address the fact that the liquor laws were being

contravened. Security and staff members were observed to be

drinking in parking lots and other areas where drinking was not

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permitted. They were easy to identify as they were wearing their

security and employee T Shirts while drinking. People at the event

were surprised that the laws applied and that the RCMP was

enforcing the laws. Boonstock had been specifically asked to add

this information to their website, but it was not added.

In meetings prior to the event, Boonstock had promised thatsecurity would be checking for ID on anyone that appeared to be

under 25 years of age. When the RCMP did inspections in the

concert bowl there were no ID checks being done. Security was only

checking for wrist bands.

When the site had reached capacity the organizers decided toincrease parking by opening up a fence line and using space outside

of the permitted area. All of the RCMP operational planning was

based on the site capacity limits that the organizer had put in the

Boonstock Operational planning. The RCMP cannot participate infuture events if there are no controls that are going to be

enforced. We cannot get extra human resources on a moments

notice when we have already tied up so many for this event.

Boonstock representatives were difficult to locate throughout theevent. RCMP suggested that there should be daily reporting of the

attendance as well as daily briefings for emergency services held by

the organizers.

Volunteers need to have more controls. The volunteer campgroundwas not laid out well and volunteers could bring in as many guests

as they could fit in their cars. This makes an accurate head count

for the event impossible. Policing resources and plans are based on

total attendance not just paid customers. One of the first major

criminal code complaints for the event this year was made by an

event employee who was drinking after shift.

On Monday July 1, 2013 when the public was leaving it appeared asthough there was no one left working on the event grounds other

than the tear down staff. Traffic on site jammed up and had no

control. People started to leave through an unplanned exit. It was

left to one remaining person to help out.

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Alberta Health Services Environmental Health

Alberta Health Services experienced difficulty in receiving accurateand/or detailed operational information from the organizer or

representative of Boonstock Productions in a timely manner

There were discrepancies in the reported number of expectedattendees as indicated in the submitted information provided by

Boonstock Productions (see attached document from AHS for

examples of the discrepancies).

It is important that an accurate account of attendance is reportedto the various agencies in order to be able to determine the

minimum required resources needed to accommodate the needs

of the event.

On the initial day of the event, the flow of vehicular traffic leadingto the site was severely congested which resulted with the public

resorting to public urination in the ditch or on the road

The logistics for public access and egress to or from the site willrequire improvements in order to reduce traffic congestion on the

public roadways as well as the need for public urination.

Consideration should be put forward to relocating the event to a

more appropriate location or downsizing it such that the current

location can handle the logistics.

Please see attachment for the full document provided by AlbertaHealth Services.

Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services:

AHS EMSs deployment of event response ambulances to theBoonstock region lessened Boonstocks impact on EMS delivery inthe surrounding communities to some degree. Ambulance service

demand at the event did impact AHS EMSs response capability

level in the community.

EMS projected the needed resource level based on the 2012 event.In 2013, EMS was required to transport over twice the patient

volume than was transported in 2012.

At certain times during the event, AHS EMS needed to utilizeambulances from communities such as Fort Saskatchewan,

Edmonton, Morinville, and Redwater to respond to Boonstock.

The 41 Boonstock related transports were notably acute accordingto the EMS Supervisors and crews.

EMS responded to a large number of alcohol and drug relatedevents

In the future, AHS should be involved in Boonstock planning atleast 6 months before the event. Accurate information such as the

maximum event population would be required as part of the

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planning process. A much larger EMS deployment would be

needed to effectively mitigate the negative impact that Boonstock

call volume has on response capability in the community.

AHS EMS was able to deliver additional resources due to the abilityto access staff and vehicles from throughout the Edmonton Zone.

Boonstock Productions was able to meet with AHS EMS prior tothe event to provide information regarding the event.

The location of the medical station and EMS rendezvous point wasmore suitable that in past years.

EMS observed that it was easier to find emergency calls in thecampground than in previous years due to section/number

assignments

On Friday June 28th, event volunteers parked in an EMS turnaround area. This was rectified by Boonstock management for the

next night.

AHS EMS experienced a significantly higher call volume in 2013when compared to prior years. In 2013, AHS EMS responded to 41events. This resulted in EMS units responding from other local

communities as the additional event ambulances were not able

to meet the need of the event. Discussion needs to take place with

regard to future planning. Given the same genre and event make

up, EMS would need to increase resource levels for future events

to effectively manage the negative effect on the region.

It was reported back by EMS command that despite the eventvolume generated this year that this was the most well run

Boonstock event yet.

Please see attachment for the After Action Report/ImprovementPlan submitted to Sturgeon County by Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services.

Alberta Transportation:

The traffic backups of 5 km on highway 28A, 2 km on highway 28,and the overpass completely blocked are unacceptable to us.

Alberta Transportation had numerous written complaints viawebsite and phone calls on Friday June 28

thfrom residents in the

area who were not happy with the traffic delays and worried about

the safety of people standing around on the highway consuming

alcohol. There were several improvements made to the traffic

accommodation strategy for 2013 such as increasing the

processing lanes on site, opening the site earlier, no left turns off

Hwy 28 southbound etc., but these changes seemed to have no

positive impact on the traffic delays whatsoever.

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Going forward, Alberta Transportation will contact the eventorganizer to start a discussion with him regarding the traffic

accommodation for 2014. Alberta Transportation will be discussing

what happened this year with regards to the traffic backups and

find out if Boonstock has any plans/thoughts on how they can

make the traffic for this event work in the future without therebeing any vehicles stopped on the highway.

Alberta Transportation will evaluate Boonstocks plans todetermine suitability and Alberta Transportation will decide at that

time if they can proceed with approval for next years event.

Update: On August 1, 2013, Alberta Transportation sent an emailto Boonstock to discuss the issues noted above by AT, however as

of August 15, 2013 Boonstock has not responded.

Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (taken from comments at the

July 30, 2013 meeting referenced above):

Licensed areas were not adhered to. Security was not requesting ID for people under 25 Recommends that there be picture ID only next year, no wrist

bands etc.

Ticketed one minor in a licensed area and one staff forconsumption

Recommends that they clean up their advertising about minorsbeing prohibited in the licensed tents. Minors did not know and

tried to gain access to see certain bands.

The organizer stated he would have a 4 foot fence and a 6 footmoat around licensed areas this did not occur and there were no

fences up for Thursday night

Licensed areas should not have been permitted inside the all agesarea, makes it very hard to control

Security needs to tighten up in all licensed areas and organizersshould be in attendance at all inspections

Recommended that all licensed areas be kept in one area butrealizes that may be an issue with performances/noise overlap

AGLC will be requesting that all security staff have their Pro-ServeCertification in the future

AGLC would like to meet with security staff prior to the event

Superior Safety Codes Services (taken from comments at the July 30,

2013 meeting referenced above):

Concerns with the public having access to the site when the stageswere being set up.

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All trailers related to the event must be indicated on the site planin the future

Electrical and Gas Inspectors were pleased with the set up Stage inspections went well and the people responsible for the set

up were knowledgeable

Follow Up Action 1.Attachment (s) 1. Alberta Health Services Summary of Observations and

Recommendations

2. Alberta Health Services - EMS After Action Report/ImprovementPlan

Report Reviewed

by:

Clayton Kittlitz, Planning and Development Manager

Ian McKay, GM Integrated GrowthPeter Tarnawsky, County Commissioner - CAO

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