A three-day music festival is slated to amp things up in Del Mar next month, just as residents were looking forward to more of a post-summer silence.
KAABOO will take over the Del Mar Racetrack and Fairgrounds Sept. 18 to 20 with seven stages and more than 100 musical acts and performances, drawing artists like No Doubt, the Killers, Zac Brown Band and Snoop Dogg to the area.
But at a meeting with the city Monday evening, about 25 residents sounded off about traffic and noise concerns. While they are used to the ruckus of the yearly county fair and racing seasons, KAABOO is new territory.
"All of the sudden this comes plopping right down in the middle of the best time of the year, and you know, we're worried about it," said Bud Emerson. "It impacts the quality of our lives."
Event organizers came to the meeting equipped with a 19-page plan on how to keep people out of the surrounding neighborhoods, a curfew to end the outdoor music by 10 p.m. and noise monitors at the fairground entrances to keep track of sound levels.
They said they will have about 70 deputies both out on the streets and inside the venue. KAABOO hopes to attract 40,000 people each day, compared to the fair's average of 65,000 a day and the races' 23,000 a day.
"Is it objectionable?" said a man who wanted to be identified only as Bill, who has lived within six blocks of the fairgrounds for 45 years. "It's probably the volume that is more objectionable. How you control that outdoors, I don't know."
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Adele Levy, whose home overlooks the fairgrounds, said the summer crowds park in her neighborhood, leave trash on the streets and keep things loud in her area.
"We were listening to a concert the other day and then one neighbor got up and left and then another got up and left, and I went you know that's enough of that,” said Levy.
Still, she told NBC 7 the problems may just be part of the price for a view like hers.
“It is what it is,” Levy said. “So, you either put your fingers in your ear, you find some cotton or you sing along depending upon what it is."
Others are looking forward to the event — or at least the benefits that come from it.
“This is a tourist area, so we want that. They spend money, they help the economy,” said Del Mar resident Ed Miller.
Some residents' suggestions are now being considered, such as DUI checkpoints, no loitering zones and a more specific enforcement plan in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Tickets for the event range from $125 for a one-day pass to about $2,500 for at three-day, VIP package.
