An amphitheater grows in Brooklyn

Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz is promoting plans for an expanded 8,000-seat amphitheater at Coney Island’s beachfront Asser Levy Park, but yesterday’s New York Times highlights the ongoing community opposition to the project—on the grounds of traffic, crowding, and of course, noise.

Neighbors are concerned that the existing “quiet oasis with a modest bandshell” will be disturbed by what would become the city’s largest amphitheater in a public park.  The 9-acre park’s location as a buffer between Coney Island’s famous boardwalk and nearby residential neighborhoods pits the locals’ need for peace and quiet against a broad desire for “a Coney Island entertainment district that will restore the wider area to glory.”

Although the recently-updated NYC Noise Control Code does not itself restrict amplified sound at public, non-commercial performances, opponents of the project may have found a weapon in the city’s permitting rules—which may prohibit permits for sound devices within 500′ of a church during services.  With a synagogue across the street from the park, this could preclude use of the amphitheater during Friday night and Saturday service—a potentially prohibitive restriction for a facility that aims to draw top entertainers.

(Via Brooklyn real estate blog Brownstoner)

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