Agenda Item:

E.5.1

Briefing Note to Council

Council Meeting Date: August 27, 2013 Subject Post 2013 Boonstock Music Festival Report Issue To provide Council with the feedback from internal County Departments and outside Agencies regarding the 2013 Boonstock Music Festival Discussion:

The Boonstock Music Festival was held on June 27-30, 2013. According to the organizer the attendance for each day of the four day event was: - Thursday June 27th 6,200 - Friday June 28th 8,500 - Saturday June 29th 12,000 - Sunday June 30th 12,000 On July 30, 2013 a meeting occurred with County staff and representatives from every agency involved with Boonstock. Attendees of that meeting included: - RCMP, - Alberta Health Services Environmental, - Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services, - Alberta Transportation, - Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission, - Superior Safety Codes Inc., - Sturgeon County Planning and Development, - Sturgeon County Economic Development, and - Sturgeon County Protective Services (Bylaw Enforcement & Fire). After that meeting comments were provided in writing. These are included in this Briefing Note. At the July 30, 2013 meeting, County Departments and all government agencies expressed that if Boonstock were to occur in 2014, a need for a cap to the attendance would be required. This is a necessity in order for the appropriate planning to take place for any future Boonstock Music Festivals.

Routing: Delegation: Written by: Date

Council Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer August 12, 2013

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Many of the issues that were noted with the 2013 Boonstock event seem to point to the likelihood that Boonstock, due to its success and growth over the last number of years, has outgrown its current site. - The current site is constrained with a highway to the west, and river and railway to the east (on an adjacent property). On August 1, 2013, Alberta Transportation sent an email to Boonstock to discuss the issues noted by AT (As of August 15, 2013 we are unaware of a Boonstock response.) The RCMP have stated that if Boonstock were to occur in 2014, the RCMP would require manpower to increase 50-100% over 2013 manpower. This is assuming no increase in attendance for 2014.

Relevant Policy/Legislation/Practices:

Assemblage Control Bylaw #476/83. Land Use Bylaw 819/96

Implications Sturgeon County Department Feedback: Bylaw Enforcement 13 people were charged with trespassing offences, with an additional 16 warnings One recovered stolen vehicle, which was turned over to the RCMP for investigation One parking ticket written on TWP 564 One compliant regarding noise after 3 a.m. RCMP requested the assistance of one Peace Officer with traffic on Highway 28 on Thursday June 27 One person was stopped and turned over to the RCMP for impaired driving Several traffic and liquor offences were observed There were 8 provincial traffic tickets written Fire Services

Controls to limit the attendance for the event in the future must be in place and adhered to. This year access/egress in the camping area was improved from previous years The volunteer camping/volunteer parking area needs to be even better organized Signs need to be on site that read No Open Fires - No Fireworks The organizer must ensure that dedicated ambulance access and egress/turnaround needs to be unobstructed at all times

Routing: Delegation: Written by: Date

Council Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer August 12, 2013

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The organizer should have a fuel truck available on site for public when departing for those who run out of fuel (while waiting in line to leave). The organizer needs to include a dedicated taxi stand/pick up area There need to be more maps of the campground in the camp ground area.

External Agency Feedback: RCMP Traffic on Hwy 28 and 28A - On Thursday June 27, traffic on Hwy 28 was backed up more than 2km from the site. The RCMP need to have a member at the turn off into Gibbons to deal with traffic. Having traffic backed up on the over pass was dangerous and it narrowed the lanes to the point that any large load vehicles could not get through. Traffic on Hwy 28A was backed up an estimated 8 km at the peak hours. On top of the disruption caused by traffic being stopped on the Highway, many of the people in the traffic line were consuming large quantities of alcohol, walking on the Highway and causing further disruption. If the organizer had all of the ticket booths up and running the site still did not have the capacity to get the vehicles off of the highways. The event was short staffed in area's that had to do with security and infrastructure. On the Friday and the Saturday traffic built up on Hwy 28 again. On the Friday it built up to the point that there was congestion where 28 and 28A converge. This creates a serious traffic safety concern. At that time the parking area for the ticket booths was mostly empty. There was only one employee trying to sort vehicles into 6 different lines. Police took several members away from their planned duties and put them in the parking area because there was no staff available to deal with the situation. Boonstock organizers advised police that there were no employees available to organize traffic in the booth lines. The priority for the event was to have vehicles in the correct lines rather than getting traffic off of the highway. Security was difficult to find outside of the concert bowls and they were not well informed. Security did not know how the liquor laws applied in the camp ground and parking lot areas and they were doing nothing to address the fact that the liquor laws were being contravened. Security and staff members were observed to be drinking in parking lots and other areas where drinking was not
Routing: Delegation: Written by: Date Council Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer August 12, 2013

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permitted. They were easy to identify as they were wearing their security and employee T Shirts while drinking. People at the event were surprised that the laws applied and that the RCMP was enforcing the laws. Boonstock had been specifically asked to add this information to their website, but it was not added. In meetings prior to the event, Boonstock had promised that security would be checking for ID on anyone that appeared to be under 25 years of age. When the RCMP did inspections in the concert bowl there were no ID checks being done. Security was only checking for wrist bands. When the site had reached capacity the organizers decided to increase parking by opening up a fence line and using space outside of the permitted area. All of the RCMP operational planning was based on the site capacity limits that the organizer had put in the Boonstock Operational planning. The RCMP cannot participate in future events if there are no controls that are going to be enforced. We cannot get extra human resources on a moments notice when we have already tied up so many for this event. Boonstock representatives were difficult to locate throughout the event. RCMP suggested that there should be daily reporting of the attendance as well as daily briefings for emergency services held by the organizers. Volunteers need to have more controls. The volunteer campground was not laid out well and volunteers could bring in as many guests as they could fit in their cars. This makes an accurate head count for the event impossible. Policing resources and plans are based on total attendance not just paid customers. One of the first major criminal code complaints for the event this year was made by an event employee who was drinking after shift. On Monday July 1, 2013 when the public was leaving it appeared as though there was no one left working on the event grounds other than the tear down staff. Traffic on site jammed up and had no control. People started to leave through an unplanned exit. It was left to one remaining person to help out.

Routing: Delegation: Written by: Date

Council Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer August 12, 2013

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Alberta Health Services Environmental Health Alberta Health Services experienced difficulty in receiving accurate and/or detailed operational information from the organizer or representative of Boonstock Productions in a timely manner There were discrepancies in the reported number of expected attendees as indicated in the submitted information provided by Boonstock Productions (see attached document from AHS for examples of the discrepancies). It is important that an accurate account of attendance is reported to the various agencies in order to be able to determine the minimum required resources needed to accommodate the needs of the event. On the initial day of the event, the flow of vehicular traffic leading to the site was severely congested which resulted with the public resorting to public urination in the ditch or on the road The logistics for public access and egress to or from the site will require improvements in order to reduce traffic congestion on the public roadways as well as the need for public urination. Consideration should be put forward to relocating the event to a more appropriate location or downsizing it such that the current location can handle the logistics. Please see attachment for the full document provided by Alberta Health Services.

Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services:

AHS EMSs deployment of event response ambulances to the Boonstock region lessened Boonstocks impact on EMS delivery in the surrounding communities to some degree. Ambulance service demand at the event did impact AHS EMSs response capability level in the community. EMS projected the needed resource level based on the 2012 event. In 2013, EMS was required to transport over twice the patient volume than was transported in 2012. At certain times during the event, AHS EMS needed to utilize ambulances from communities such as Fort Saskatchewan, Edmonton, Morinville, and Redwater to respond to Boonstock. The 41 Boonstock related transports were notably acute according to the EMS Supervisors and crews. EMS responded to a large number of alcohol and drug related events In the future, AHS should be involved in Boonstock planning at least 6 months before the event. Accurate information such as the maximum event population would be required as part of the

Routing: Delegation: Written by: Date

Council Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer August 12, 2013

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planning process. A much larger EMS deployment would be needed to effectively mitigate the negative impact that Boonstock call volume has on response capability in the community. AHS EMS was able to deliver additional resources due to the ability to access staff and vehicles from throughout the Edmonton Zone. Boonstock Productions was able to meet with AHS EMS prior to the event to provide information regarding the event. The location of the medical station and EMS rendezvous point was more suitable that in past years. EMS observed that it was easier to find emergency calls in the campground than in previous years due to section/number assignments On Friday June 28th, event volunteers parked in an EMS turn around area. This was rectified by Boonstock management for the next night. AHS EMS experienced a significantly higher call volume in 2013 when compared to prior years. In 2013, AHS EMS responded to 41 events. This resulted in EMS units responding from other local communities as the additional event ambulances were not able to meet the need of the event. Discussion needs to take place with regard to future planning. Given the same genre and event make up, EMS would need to increase resource levels for future events to effectively manage the negative effect on the region. It was reported back by EMS command that despite the event volume generated this year that this was the most well run Boonstock event yet. Please see attachment for the After Action Report/Improvement Plan submitted to Sturgeon County by Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services.

Alberta Transportation:

The traffic backups of 5 km on highway 28A, 2 km on highway 28, and the overpass completely blocked are unacceptable to us. Alberta Transportation had numerous written complaints via website and phone calls on Friday June 28th from residents in the area who were not happy with the traffic delays and worried about the safety of people standing around on the highway consuming alcohol. There were several improvements made to the traffic accommodation strategy for 2013 such as increasing the processing lanes on site, opening the site earlier, no left turns off Hwy 28 southbound etc., but these changes seemed to have no positive impact on the traffic delays whatsoever.

Routing: Delegation: Written by: Date

Council Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer August 12, 2013

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Going forward, Alberta Transportation will contact the event organizer to start a discussion with him regarding the traffic accommodation for 2014. Alberta Transportation will be discussing what happened this year with regards to the traffic backups and find out if Boonstock has any plans/thoughts on how they can make the traffic for this event work in the future without there being any vehicles stopped on the highway. Alberta Transportation will evaluate Boonstocks plans to determine suitability and Alberta Transportation will decide at that time if they can proceed with approval for next years event. Update: On August 1, 2013, Alberta Transportation sent an email to Boonstock to discuss the issues noted above by AT, however as of August 15, 2013 Boonstock has not responded.

Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (taken from comments at the July 30, 2013 meeting referenced above):

Licensed areas were not adhered to. Security was not requesting ID for people under 25 Recommends that there be picture ID only next year, no wrist bands etc. Ticketed one minor in a licensed area and one staff for consumption Recommends that they clean up their advertising about minors being prohibited in the licensed tents. Minors did not know and tried to gain access to see certain bands. The organizer stated he would have a 4 foot fence and a 6 foot moat around licensed areas this did not occur and there were no fences up for Thursday night Licensed areas should not have been permitted inside the all ages area, makes it very hard to control Security needs to tighten up in all licensed areas and organizers should be in attendance at all inspections Recommended that all licensed areas be kept in one area but realizes that may be an issue with performances/noise overlap AGLC will be requesting that all security staff have their Pro-Serve Certification in the future AGLC would like to meet with security staff prior to the event

Superior Safety Codes Services (taken from comments at the July 30, 2013 meeting referenced above):

Concerns with the public having access to the site when the stages were being set up.

Routing: Delegation: Written by: Date

Council Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer August 12, 2013

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All trailers related to the event must be indicated on the site plan in the future Electrical and Gas Inspectors were pleased with the set up Stage inspections went well and the people responsible for the set up were knowledgeable

Follow Up Action 1. Attachment (s) 1. Alberta Health Services Summary of Observations and Recommendations 2. Alberta Health Services - EMS After Action Report/Improvement Plan Report Reviewed Clayton Kittlitz, Planning and Development Manager by: Ian McKay, GM Integrated Growth Peter Tarnawsky, County Commissioner - CAO

Routing: Delegation: Written by: Date

Council Clayton Kittlitz, Manager Planning and Development Services Colin Krywiak, Senior Development Officer August 12, 2013

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