Anybody up for a music festival? Fulton County Community Zoning Board believed the idea would fly, voting March 21 to approve a permit request by Rivertown Entertainment, LLC to hold an annual music festival on a 2,047-acre site in south Fulton.

Rivertown Entertainment representative Woody Galloway said the plans called for a five-day music festival to be held once each year, usually in October. The largely undeveloped site fronts Campbellton-Fairburn Road, Cochran Mill Road, Cedar Grove Road, Browns Lake Road and the Chattahoochee River. To be held on 330 acres of the property, including a three-mile stretch of the Chattahoochee, the self-contained festival is expected to attract 35,000-45,000 people, he said. The majority of those attending will stay at the on-site campground for the duration of the festival, with approximately 5,000 of the tickets available for walk-ins, Galloway added.

Galloway said the annual festival would be professionally managed, with self-contained facilities including food concessions, 1,400-2,000 portable toilets, showers, temporary fence screening in designated areas and 200-250 security personnel and 20 mounted officers.

Plans call for the temporary stage to back up against the Chattahoochee River and a large buffer area of steeply graded wooded areas between the festival venue area and south Fulton neighbors, Galloway said.

Several area residents voiced concerns over the proposal. Largely from the south Fulton side of the Chattahoochee, residents were worried about the amount of traffic that would converge on the area during festival times and whether the traffic flow would or could be managed safely and appropriately. Security and the potential for crime was an issue, as was sanitation, especially with the possibility of large amounts of trash ending up on nearby roadways, neighbors said.

The potential for significant noise was surfaced by residents of Fulton and Douglas counties. Douglas residents wanted assurances that the noise level would not interrupt the residential setting in subdivisions directly across the river and that church services would experience no interference. Galloway said the noise level would be maintained at a maximum of 60db (decibels) on a continuous basis and at 75db at a peak basis at the property line. He said accommodations would be made for church services and that project management personnel would have additional meetings with Douglas residents to address their concerns.

Galloway maintained that property owner Carl Bouckaert was sensitive to neighbors’ concerns, adding that concerns such as safety and security management, noise and appropriate trash disposal were also in his best interest.

The board voted 3-1 in favor of the proposal. The opposing vote came from Commissioner Bruce Moody, saying that the venue could be a very good one, though he had some reservations about the security and noise concerns.

Fulton County Board of Commissioners will consider the recommendation in April.

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