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Show osmall park, big debate By MARK EDD1NGTON Staff Writer FARMING! ON How much public input is enough? That was the question the Farmington City Council grappled with Wednesday before approving an amended set of rules governing use of Woodland Park. Discussion and a vote on the resolution was scheduled for 7:40 p.m and was supposed suppos-ed to take 20 minutes. Instead, the matter was hotly contested for well over an hour between be-tween council members who wanted to vote on the rules proposed in the prepared resolution resolu-tion and those who wanted to strt over again. Fueling the debate, was a letter circulated by Farmington Festival Committee Chairman Chair-man Marion Fausett to city residents, accusing accus-ing Mayor Robert Arbuckle of fashioning public policy for the park to suit his private needs. "I feel that Mayor Arbuckle, whose property prop-erty is adjacent to Woodland Park, is setting unreasonable restrictions on the public use of of Woodland Park in order to serve his own private interests," Fausett asserted in the letter. Another concern Fausett addressed, was the proposed rule limiting all light and sound amplification in the park to city-sponsored events during 1992. She said this would exclude ex-clude use by all other groups unless ty were sponsored by the Farmington Festival Days Committee. Her letter called on residents favoring a less restrictive use policy to contact council members. Council newcomers Gary Elliott and Jim Parsell favored further debate on the rules. Referring to the letter and subsequent phone calls, Elliott said, "It seems there is a lot of misconception what this means and I wanted to go through this." Arbuckle replied the council had already debated and discussed it, but then proceeded to discuss it later when Councilman Pat Achter questioned the city's right to authorize events at a public park. "Mr. Mayor, I thought we weren't going to discuss these things,' ' Elliott objected. Parsell supported Elliott, saying he received receiv-ed 15 phone calls and thought it would be good to open the meeting to a public hearing or table the issue and hold a hearing later. Parsell 's suggestion was greeted with applause ap-plause by citizens in attendance, many of whom were there to watch the proceedings because of Fausett's letter. But Councilman Greg Bell disagreed, noting the council had already followed proper procedure by soliciting public comment and forming a citizens' committee made up of park neighbors and private citizens to obtain a J recommendation on rules for the park. SEE PARK ON PG. 3 Park CONTINUED FROM PG.l "It wasn't an easy issue. I'm sorry you're sarcastic, but we did the best we could....," Bell remarked remark-ed to Parsell and Elliott. "Are we going to do the entire process again? Just because it's a hard issue doesn't mean you don't make a decision. I don't feel a need to respond res-pond to every letter that's circulated. cir-culated. Let's follow policy." Bell added he thought there had been sufficient public input on the matter. Parsell countered they were elected to serve the public and their seemed to be an overwhelming need for further input. Noting Parsell and Elliott's short tenure on the council, Arbuckle cautioned cau-tioned them to expect complaints on a lot of issues. He made reference to citizen complaints and requests for buffering from Kmart and for controlling con-trolling sound amplitude from Lagoon. ' 'And this thing (Woodland Park) is even closer to homes, so we need restrictions. The park needs to be open to all people, not just for people who attend events," Arbuckle Ar-buckle said, in answer to charges he had a vested interest in favoring a restrictive policy limiting the number of events featuring lights and sound amplification. Woodland, located at 286 South and 200 East, has a two-tiered stage which can accommodate lights and amplified productions such as plays and concerts. Arbuckle lives on the other side of an embankment on the south side of Woodland and has objected ob-jected to having rock concerts or too many amplified performances because of the resulting noise. At Wednesday ' s meeting , Arbuckle Ar-buckle objected to a composer's concert scheduled on June 28, saying say-ing it would conflict with a missionary mis-sionary farewell he had planned to hold that day. Achter, who sits on the Centennial and Festival Days committees, volunteered to meet with the group and change the concert con-cert date. Despite the misgivings, the council coun-cil unanimously approved the proposal pro-posal after amending several provisions, provi-sions, and with the understanding the council will revisit the issue in November to make further adjustments ad-justments if necessary. The rules limit the number of city-approved eventsdefined in the agreement as events sponsored or requested by the Festival Days Committee or other organizations-involving organizations-involving sound amplification and lights, to 16 days in 1992. Exceptions Excep-tions can be granted by a majority vote of the council. This provision effectively precludes any performances by private groups this year since the 16 days available have virtually all been reserved for staging city-approved city-approved performances. Gordell Brown, president of the Lion's Club, asked if the limit would mean his organization wouldn't be able to hold its annual Easter egg hunt for children at the park since this would require a microphone. A short time later, Arbuckle answered an-swered the Easter egg could still go on if the Lion's Club hooked up a microphone in the parking lot rather than in the park. The mayor's solution solu-tion prompted one resident to privately question if rock groups could also skirt the rule by setting up their equipment in the parking lot. |
