Gas Works concert gig limited to 3-year run

The Seattle City Council voted Monday to limit a summer concert series at Gas Works Park to three years, starting this summer.

The Summer Nights concert series, produced by One Reel, was held at South Lake Union Park in 2005 but had to move because of construction.

The concerts previously were held on Pier 62/63 until 2004, when the pier required repair.

Council President Nick Licata introduced an amendment Monday describing the Gas Works arrangement as "temporary" — running through September 2008 — to an ordinance allowing money to be spent on park improvements for the concerts.

The amended ordinance passed 6-1 with Councilman Richard McIver voting against it. Not voting was Peter Steinbrueck.

Residents of the Wallingford neighborhood, on the park's north edge, have raised concerns about parking, traffic and noise.

Residents learned of the concerts' shift to the neighborhood three days before Christmas.

Said Licata, "The reason that I believe that we should not allow Gas Works Park to become a permanent site is because the process, the best way we could describe it, has been truncated. Others would describe it as haphazard."

"We still have a concern about having such a big portion of the park occupied all summer long by the stage," said Mark Johnson, a Wallingford resident and board member of Friends of Gas Works Park.

"There is a compromise for everyone there," said Michele Scoleri, the Summer Nights producer at One Reel. "At least this is a situation where everybody knows what's on the table and we can figure something out and we have some time to do it."

Sharon Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com