There is a lot of fun to be had along the LA River these days and, come 2017, there may be yet another attraction coming to the Sepulveda Basin. A three-day music festival called AngelFest has been proposed by the Make Good Group, which would bring 250,000 fans to the site for what the producers are pitching as an environmentally-friendly music festival in harmony with the natural surroundings.
According to the LA Times, the idea has local environmental groups divided. TreePeople, L.A. Water Keeper, the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and others back the proposal, which includes donating a portion of all ticket sales to the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks to further maintain and conserve the basin.
On the other side, the likes of the Audubon Society, the Urban Wildlands Group, and the California Native Plant Society oppose the idea of using the area for the festival, which is being backed by Goldenvoice, the creators of Coachella and Desert Trip.
Currently, a petitioning war has broken out, with the anti-festival side boasting 6,000 signatures and festival supporters gathering around 10,000.
Because the City of Los Angeles technically only leases the Sepulveda Dam Basin from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the next step in the process is for the Corps to approve or deny a request that has been submitted to them to grant the festival a waiver of rules which limit events taking place in the area to less than 5,000 attendees and prohibit loud noises. Even if they approve the waiver request, it doesn’t mean tickets will be on sale immediately—there will be additional permitting and logistical hurdles to staging an event of that scale in the space without disrupting the fragile environment. Plus, according to the Daily News, the controversy surrounding the proposed festival has made it difficult for producers to land talent. We guess only time will tell if Angelenos need to be gearing up for yet another music festival.