Two months before Ultra, there’s still no contract and neighbors are suing the city
Miami’s signature electronic dance music event is promoting its return to downtown in March, but it wouldn’t be Ultra Music Festival without City Hall drama and a lawsuit.
Two months before Ultra is scheduled to return to Bayfront Park, organizers have still not signed an agreement with the city to use Bayfront Park for the three-day electronic dance music event, and no one will explain why. Meanwhile, neighboring downtown residents are suing the city to invalidate the City Commission’s vote to allow organizers to stage Ultra on the downtown waterfront.
Over the past few years, the question of Ultra’s place in Miami’s public spaces has stoked political squabbles, complaints from residents over the festival’s thundering music, an ardent defense of Ultra’s cultural appeal and economic impact on local hospitality interests and downtown businesses, and multiple lawsuits.
On Tuesday, more than a dozen residents from the Downtown Neighbors Alliance jumped into the legal fray when attorney Sam Dubbin filed suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The four-count complaint accuses the city of violating its own charter, permitting an illegal nuisance and flouting its own public bidding laws when commissioners approved a licensing agreement to allow Ultra to use Bayfront Park. The lawsuit recounts the displeasure of condo dwellers who live across from the park, which they can’t access while Ultra is setting up and tearing down.
“Between 2012 and 2019, the city allowed Ultra to conduct music festivals in Bayfront Park, and blast catastrophic volumes of noise into plaintiffs’ and other downtown Miami residents’ homes, depriving them of the quiet enjoyment of their homes, and also depriving plaintiffs and other downtown residents access to Bayfront Park for several months each year,” reads the complaint.
Dubbin seeks an injunction to stop Ultra from proceeding this year, arguing that the resolution passed by three of five city commissioners in July is invalid. He points to issues raised in summer 2019 when the agreement was being negotiated, including the potentially harmful effects the weekend of loud music could have on residents and alleged bending of city rules to accommodate Ultra.
The complaint includes multiple accounts from locals who say Ultra disrupts their personal and professional lives.
“I always have to leave town the weekend of the Ultra festival because I cannot work at my office or in my home on the other side of the river,” said Emily Philips, a Brickell Key resident. “The noise pollution is so loud that I get headaches. The festival is harmful to human health and truly disrupts my life.”
Another compounding factor: The licensing agreement that resulted from that resolution has not been finalized. More than five months after commissioners voted to allow Ultra back to Bayfront Park following a problematic one-year stint on Virginia Key, city administrators and festival organizers have not signed the contract that would allow the event to be staged in the park. In July 2019, three of five commissioners voted to approve the deal for Ultra’s return.
Even though the terms of the deal were discussed at the time of that vote, the terms have not been finalized. Both city officials and Ultra have declined to explain the delay to the Miami Herald.
Ultra promoters are selling tickets for the festival, and a spokesman would only say organizers are moving forward.
“We are on track with producing our 22nd annual edition in continued partnership with the city of Miami and look forward to showcasing our city and Ultra’s brand to a worldwide audience on March 20-22, 2020,” wrote Ray Martinez, the festival’s chief of security.
A earlier letter from Dubbin might provide a clue. In late 2019, he wrote a letter to the mayor and commissioners raising questions about how much liability Ultra might face if neighbors sue on the basis of potentially decreased property value in downtown and hearing loss, which Dubbin estimated could cost upwards of $100 million.
“The commission’s decision to give short shrift to the residents’ health and property rights will, as city officials have been advised, also have serious financial consequences for the city,” Dubbin wrote.
Dubbin pointed to sections of a draft, unsigned agreement that protects the city from legal liability but requires Ultra to obtain $10 million in insurance coverage, an amount Dubbin argued is insufficient in the event of a lawsuit.
It is unknown whether the administrators and Ultra representatives are haggling over this issue. Regardless, the lawsuit now throws the question of whether the city acted correctly into the court.
Read the complaint below:
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 1:59 PM.
