EDMONTON — People living in west Edmonton neighbourhoods surrounding the River Cree Resort and Casino say concerts at the new Venue are so loud, they can clearly hear music and lyrics from inside their homes, even with the windows closed.
“We thought it was actually music coming from a neighbour across the street,” said Mike Mackell, an area resident who lives about two kilometres from the Venue.
“I could make out the lyrics from the songs clearly from inside my home.”
The Venue is a temporary, tent-like structure. It replaced a similar structure that was shut down in the spring after the casino found it did not meet safety codes. Performances run on both weekdays and weekends, until 11 p.m.
At the time of this post, no one from the casino had responded to a Global News request for comment, but the casino did respond to one complainant on Twitter, saying a new, permanent facility would be open in December, and would be “sound engineered.”
If the casino does turn down the volume, it would be welcome relief for neighbours. It’s also their only hope.
Global News contacted the City of Edmonton, RCMP, and the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. All said they were powerless to do anything about the noise complaints because the casino is on private property, owned by the Enoch Cree Nation.
Late Friday afternoon, President and CEO of River Cree Resort and Casino, Robert Morin, issued a statement, saying it would lower the volume for the remaining six shows at the Venue.
“We have heard from some of our surrounding neighbours that recent concert volumes at the River Cree Resort and Casino have been unwelcome.
After learning of construction delays with our new permanent entertainment center, and in an effort to met the live entertainment desires of the citizens of Edmonton and make the show experience as seamless as possible for our guests, we made the decision to erect a temporary concert venue which opened October 3rd and will be closed by end of December.
This temporary venue is unfortunately a single layer, non- insulated tent structure, which is the source of the noise issues.
We recognize the concerns coming from some people in our surrounding communities and have taken immediate action to mitigate them.
Although we are not within municipal Edmonton, we have always abided by a strict 11 PM curfew in accordance with the Edmonton Community Standards Bylaw and will continue to do so.
We have also confirmed with the sound and production team that the decibels of the remaining 6 shows slated to take place in our temporary structure will be lowered.
We are just a few weeks away from our new permanent entertainment center that will be fully insulated, sound engineered and enclosed by our existing building, thus eliminating the noise concerns.
The River Cree Resort and Casino has always worked hard to be a good neighbour since we began operating nine years ago, and we are doing everything we can to minimize disruptions to the community during this short time period where we’re using a temporary concert structure.”
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