By David Fleet
Editor
Groveland Twp. — On June 27 by a vote of 5-1 Groveland Township Planning Commission recommended for approval by the township board of trustees a special use permit for the Renaissance Festival. Trustee Jim Christopher voted no.
At 7 p.m., July 10 the board of trustees is expected to vote on the special use permit final approval.
A significant effort was emphasized by Renaissance Festival officials to help curb ongoing parking issues at the events. This year the Renaissance Festival is on weekends from Aug. 19- Oct. 1.
“The Renaissance Festival is making huge changes in the way we are doing business,” said Chip Schultz, who spoke for the festival at the planning commission meeting. “Neighborhood relations, those living near the festival are key to us, as is keeping an open line of communications to the Groveland Township officials.”
Changes for the 2023 Festival include retaining Elite Parking Solutions, Inc. which will oversee internal traffic and creating a parking plan. Among the benefits will be a staffing of up to 40 people directing cars with key management present at all times.
“On those days we know we are going to have peak attendance, we’ll have 40 people working the parking lot,” said Schultz. “This is a huge endeavor, it’s something we feel has lacked in the last few years and led to our problems with traffic. In the past we had to use deputies on the internal part of the park, so they were not out on Dixie Highway directing traffic. Having staff in both parking lots this year is going to be a huge bonus. The key is getting the cars moving along and the number of people parking cars.”
In addition, for the first time the Renaissance Festival will be charging for parking. The charge will be $10 per vehicle. Check out the Website for details.
“It’s not stop and pay, rather pay after the patron parks,” he said. “The hope is people will carpool, rather than just coming in one or two to a car.”
Other changes for the 2023 season will include new roads on the property along with expanding the entrance off Dixie Highway. Also there will be a significant reduction of complementary tickets for patrons on the last three weekends of the festival will reduce the attendance for those events.
In 2022, the festival reported 35,713 complimentary tickets redeemed over the seven weekends. A total of 28 percent of the complimentary tickets were redeemed on the first four weekends, with 72 percent in the last three events.
“This is a huge number and if we took those comp tickets out of the 26,701 day, it would only be 19,000,” said Schultz.
Trustee Jim Christopher, cast the only dissenting vote following the discussion.
“We asked for a written plan,” said Christopher, who also serves on the Groveland Township Board of Trustees. “Talk to me about how quickly we can park cars. How quickly can the sheriff department direct cars through the approach and the car be absorb (into the lot)? No one had the answer. We are left to postulate. My gut is that it will work, but we have nothing empirical. There’s no metrics, no history as to how fast these cars can be moved. It’s a leap of faith again.”
Christopher said there was an insufficient answer as to how to maintain order on some of the ancillary roads, such as Perryville Road.
“It appears there could be some signage,” he said. “A pass on cars does not address people coming in the back roads to avoid the traffic.”
Bob DePalma, township supervisor, supported the plan.
“The plan is a major improvement over other years,” said DePalma. “Getting professionals to park the cars should make a huge difference. However, a bigger concern will be the ongoing construction on I-75, which will last the next four years. We’ll need to work closely with MDOT as to possible delays and shutdowns during the festival weekends.”