Coffee County wants bigger Bonnaroo cut
Some officials in the Tennessee community that is home of the 3-year-old Bonnaroo music festival want Coffee County to get a bigger cut of the revenue from more than 90,000 tickets.
Members of a county commission budget panel are recommending that the county get $3 from every ticket, plus an additional $30,000. County commissioners will discuss that proposal Tuesday.
That recommendation was added to a proposal that the county get $120,000 from the 2004 festival.
Zoning inspector Kip Green also questioned reports of ticket sales, which he said showed 121,000.
“I’ve never had a figure like 121,000,” said Bonnaroo producer Ashley Capps, who contended his report showed slightly under 91,000 tickets.
Capps said if the county got $2 from every ticket, that would mean $180,000 that could go toward its general fund.
Budget and Finance Committee chairman Virgil Alford told Capps to make a recommendation about the county’s cut of ticket revenue.
Commissioner Gaylen Fann said he would like to see “every single person in this county gets something from Bonnaroo.”
The county Board of Zoning Appeals at a Thursday meeting decided some zoning changes are needed for the property where the festival is held, a farm beside Interstate 24.
“As the situation now stands, this piece of property would in fact require a zoning change for the activity you’re proposing,” state consultant Ron Cooper told the zoning appeals board members.
Capps said about 800 acres would be needed next year. Last year’s festival spread out over 700 acres. He questioned why the county was now deciding it needed zoning changes.
“What’s changed from the last three years?” Capps asked the board. “Year one, the county had no zoning,” Cooper said. “Year two, the county had literally just started zoning; year three, we had zoning but did not have a board of zoning appeals.”
“Why can’t they be grandfathered?” Fann asked from the audience.
“Because they’re not a permanent activity,” Green said.
Green also said Bonnaroo producers should be prepared to take care of some road damages.
Bonnaroo producer Rick Farman said festival organizers would submit a site plan to the county in early December.
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Information from: The Tullahoma News, http://www.tullahomanews.com