Ultra Music Festival reaches agreement with downtown neighbors after years of fights
There may be a peace treaty in the long-standing war between Ultra Music Festival and the downtown Miami condo dwellers who have strongly opposed the electronic dance music event for years.
Festival organizers announced on Tuesday an agreement to settle tensions with the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, or DNA, an association representing 13 downtown condominium towers. Now, a loud and organized group of residents who have contributed to some of Ultra’s biggest problems will no longer seek to kick the event out of Bayfront Park, according to DNA President James Torres.
The deal appears to break a years-long cycle of feuding between residents and Ultra that erupted every time city commissioners weighed Ultra’s contract to mount its three-day event in one of the city’s signature parks. And it sets the stage for Ultra to make a less controversial comeback in 2022.
Torres and Ultra spokesman Ray Martinez declined to provide the agreement to the Miami Herald or discuss specific details, including whether or not the DNA received any compensation under the arrangement. Both said the agreement was confidential.
In a press release, Ultra organizers said the festival would be “voluntarily implementing its first community standards program addressing issues including construction schedules, park closures, noise monitoring/impact and traffic management.”
Torres said negotiations began last summer and ended last week. As part of the agreement, a group of residents involved in the DNA recently withdrew a lawsuit against Ultra.
“We believe that this agreement will allow Ultra and its neighbors to coexist and will highlight Downtown Miami as ‘One Community for All,’ and a great place to live, work and play,” Torres said.
The Downtown Neighbors Alliance’s opposition to the music festival has sparked political fights at City Hall in recent years that led to Ultra’s expulsion from the the downtown waterfront in 2018. Condo dwellers said the booming bass from Ultra’s stages rattled their windows and cabinets, and they complained that Ultra occupied Bayfront Park for too long to set up and tear down.
The most recent Ultra Music Festival, in 2019, was held on Virginia Key — a logistically bumpy affair that organizers and fans agreed was not worth repeating. The — festival was scheduled to return to Bayfront Park in March 2020 — and neighbors were organizing a fight against it, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of major events.
The 2021 event was also pushed back due to the coronavirus. The next festival is scheduled for March 25-27 at Bayfront Park.
“This development finally opens the door to establishing an ongoing working relationship between the parties, which was long overdue” Martinez said. “Ultra’s leadership was privileged to work closely with local residents in striking the balance between accommodating local residential lifestyles and hosting large-scale and state-of-the art music productions in Miami’s urban core.”
Martinez suggested the pandemic gave both sides time to work out a deal.
“Maybe the COVID pause gave both sides an opportunity to kind of take a breath, if you will, and come to the table without the impending event looming over either side,” he said. “We really tried to work on the solution so we could coexist.”
Miami Commissioner Ken Russell, whose district includes downtown, has voted against Ultra’s contract multiple times. On Wednesday, he said the new deal with the DNA will factor into his decision on Ultra’s revocable license agreement in the future. Under Ultra’s contract, the city has an opportunity to cancel the event each year.
“Ultra is realizing that they need to be a good neighbor,” Russell said. “They’ve been willing to be for quite some time, but it’s really great to see all of the efforts culminate in an agreement that will allow us to move forward.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2021 at 1:10 PM.
