Miami Weighs Bringing Ultra Back To Bayfront

MIAMI, FL (CelebrityAccess) — Even though it looked like the Ultra Music Festival and the City of Miami might have officially parted ways, it appears as if all hope is not lost for local EDM fans.

According to the Miami Herald, City Commissioners have scheduled a meeting on June 27th to weigh bringing the 3-day music festival back to its longtime downtown Miami home at Bayfront Park.

A proposal, sponsored by Commissioner Keon Hardemon, and backed by a group of pro-festival officials, argues that the festival’s economic impact for the city outweighs local residents concerns about the event such as noise and congestion, the Herald reported.

The proposal would see Ultra pay the city a minimum $2 million to stage the event in Bayfront, and would limit their use of the public park to just one month, instead of the longer setup and breakdown phases of the festival in previous years.

The proposal, if approved allows Ultra to operate from 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, noon to midnight Saturday and noon to 11 p.m. Sunday. The proposal also requires Ultra to make good on payments still owed for fire and police services, waste disposal and taxes, which are still outstanding from the 2019 edition of the festival, the Herald reported.

In September, the City officially disinvited the festival from its longtime home in Bayfront Park and forced organizers to relocate the 2019 edition of the festival to nearby Virginia Key Beach Park on one of Miami’s barrier islands.

However, the move was not an easy one and the decision drew immediate backlash from environmentalists, who expressed concern about the effects of the festival on local wildlife habitats, and from local residents, who objected to the noise and traffic the event generated.

Ultra representatives declined to comment on the proposal, the Miami Herald reported.