The park district’s master plan from 2009 preliminarily called for an amphitheater with 6,500 synthetic grass lawn seats and 3,500 fully covered seats near the lake.
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“It’s great to have wonderful cultural venues, but they have to be sustainable,” MetroParks Executive Director Jonathan Granville said.
The West Chester Twp. trustees agreed to pay $10,000 toward the study.
Other similar nearby concert venues include RiversEdge Amphitheater in Hamilton, Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, and Dayton’s Fraze Pavilion.
“If you cannot sustain them, you probably shouldn’t build them, with anybody’s money,” Granville said. “So that’s what we’re talking about now — is this a sustainable thing, is there a market for it?”
The feasibility study will help determine the potential economic impact on the township, county and region. It also would include a market and demand analysis, venue design analysis, stakeholder input and projected success and sustainability.
Granville told the trustees recently that if it is to become a reality it will have to be a public and private investment.
The West Chester Twp. trustees agreed to the feasibility study, but two trustees say no more taxpayer money would go into the project.
Trustees George Lang and Mark Welch say if it is determined an amphitheater would be a successful amenity, financing of the project would have to be between the park district and private investors.
“I do not see this as being a good use of taxpayer dollars,” Lang said. “I’m going to encourage the project, I’m going to encourage the private sector to step forward. What I think we as the township should do, if the economic impact study comes back and it makes sense to move forward, urge the private sector to develop it and then get out of their way.”
Welch said they don’t want to get in the way of private businesses “developing it, managing it, providing the maintenance of it and profiting from it.”
He said a project like this does not comport with the township’s core responsibilities and functions.
Trustee Lee Wong, on the other hand, said he can see the township being one of the public partners — but only if Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money could be used.
“Parks and bike paths are vital to the new millennium,” he said. “This is what makes our community great, providing all these amenities.”
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