UhOh

[shirehobbits]

just found this in the paper today...
www.sunjournal.com/oxford-hills/story/863475

OXFORD HILLS
'A muddy mess:' Nateva Fest campsite ruled off limits

NORWAY — A 15-acre hillside at the Oxford Fairgrounds slated for camping during the three-day Nateva Festival in July will not be used because the site has been cleared and excavated to the point of becoming unstable — "a muddy mess," Planning Board Chairman Dennis Gray said Tuesday.

“It's an ecological disaster waiting to happen,” Gray said. The land was being cleared to use as a campground for some of the 14,000 concert-goers expected to descend on the Oxford Hills next month for the Nateva Festival and for future festival and event use.

Gray said he believes the site work has created a safety issue to anyone using the hill and an environmental issue for the area. The main issue is erosion from silt is washing away.

The issue surfaced last month when abutters to the fairgrounds, on Route 26 and Pottle Street in Oxford and Norway, saw a nearby pond filling with silt from site work at the fairgrounds. About 15 acres of the 21-acre site under construction is in Norway. Another 6 acres are in Oxford, according to Norway Building Inspector Jeff Van Decker.

Scott McGee, project manager for the site job, confirmed at the time that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection “suggested” that workers from McGee Contracting of West Gardner stop clearing ground until they received the proper storm-water permitting. The lack of a permit is in violation of DEP regulations and a town ordinance that requires the company to go before the Planning Board for a site-plan review if earth is going to be moved under certain conditions.

McGee told the Sun Journal at the time, "We had a little groundwater get away from us.”

Permits were applied for, but when Planning Board members went on a tour of the site late last week, they found evidence that the site work had gone too far, Gray said.

Van Decker said he believes the landowners had continued to work on the site after being told they needed to get state and local permits, but were doing so to try to stabilize the runoff problem.

Gray said the Planning Board went on the site review as part of a review process required for permitting to do the type of work being done at the fairgrounds. The work had already been started without proper permitting.

“We had no idea,” Gray said of the impact the construction had taken on the hillside.

He said the board would not continue the review for a permit until they see a stabilization plan.

Van Decker said fairgrounds co-owner Rupert Grover has told the Planning Board that the site would be fenced off and not used for this festival.

Grover, who initially claimed not to be involved in the issue when asked by the Sun Journal to comment Tuesday, said, “I'd rather not say anything at the moment.”

Van Decker said the town is not planning to fine the fairgrounds owners for the violations, but the DEP may. DEP official Jeff Kalinich, who is working on the Oxford Fairgrounds issue with Van Decker, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

[itrainmonkeys]

Hmmmm.....crappy news. I'll wait to hear what Frank and Nateva say about it before going crazy though. No need to go nuts over something we don't know all the details of.

[moedead]

Most excellent suggestion.
(:hopeicandothat:)

[tameone]

Van Decker said fairgrounds co-owner Rupert Grover has told the Planning Board that the site would be fenced off and not used for this festival.

This is bad news any way you slice it. We know the site is small to begin with.

[itrainmonkeys]

I've been informed that it's not a huge issue and will go away. Nothing to worry about.

[kincade]

can you let them know (if they do not already) that their main site is sending a 404 error:

natevafestival.com/

Not Found

HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.

[deadshowdan]

And what about the website?

404

www.natevafestival.com/

[itrainmonkeys]

The website is having problems. Here's what they said on the Facebook page:

Our website is down and being worked on. If you would like to buy tickets you can either click on the attached link or call 415-256-8499. Sorry for the inconvenience.

They've had some website issues recently.....i'm sure due to the high amounts of people visiting the site so close to the fest.

[kincade]

Jun 16, 2010 12:57:42 GMT -5 itrainmonkeys said:

The website is having problems. Here's what they said on the Facebook page:

Our website is down and being worked on. If you would like to buy tickets you can either click on the attached link or call 415-256-8499. Sorry for the inconvenience.

They've had some website issues recently.....i'm sure due to the high amounts of people visiting the site so close to the fest.

right on! thanks

Do you know if the camping area in the article is on-site or off-site camping land?

[deadshowdan]

itrainmonkeys:

I'd hope your speculation about why the website is down is incorrect.

You'd expect higher volume as the festival comes close. It's not rocket science to insure that you can handle that.

[itrainmonkeys]

No clue. If I hear anything more I'll let you guys know.

[shmalphy]

a sh!t storm is brewing

[itrainmonkeys]

Nateva's response on Facebook:

Are you people kidding me? There is almost no relationship between reality and this article. It's not even worth a reply. Relax and plan your festival. See you on the hill.

[itrainmonkeys]

Jun 16, 2010 13:06:24 GMT -5 deadshowdan said:

itrainmonkeys:

I'd hope your speculation about why the website is down is incorrect.

You'd expect higher volume as the festival comes close. It's not rocket science to insure that you can handle that.

I don't know for sure if it's because of the amount of visitors. Either way.....they announced the website was having problems and they are working on it. So hopefully it will be up soon.

[tameone]

See you on the hill!! AWESOME!!

[pennedpig]

so if the site loses 15 of 21 camping acres its no big deal. and if the article is correct so much for you guys being such a green company huh clearcutting and making an enviromental nightmare for profit?

[itrainmonkeys]

Jun 16, 2010 13:21:56 GMT -5 pennedpig said:

so if the site loses 15 of 21 camping acres its no big deal. and if the article is correct so much for you guys being such a green company huh clearcutting and making an enviromental nightmare for profit?

I'd wait and see what actually happens. Then i'd start the complaints and accusations.

[joker]

On the bright side (if there is one here) responsibility for this mess seems to be on the fairground owners rather than Frank and Nateva so it shouldn't eat up funds slated to go towards the festival.

Let's hope it's something that can be rectified and not become a long term problem for the environment up there.

[itrainmonkeys]

After some well-written responses from some concerned fans (and rightfully so) this is what Nateva responded with:

The reporter has totally messed up her facts and there is simply no truth to the notion that we can't use the hill. This is the second article that she has written that uses Nateva as the headline and has nothing to do with Nateva. The Fairgrounds is applying for some sort of building permit and that was what this was all about. We are a renter of the land. We have the appropriate permits from the town of Oxford, Norway and The State of Maine. We have spoken with Norway's Chief of Police and Town Manager and both agree that this has nothing to do with Nateva. Sorry you believe everything you read in the paper. Can we go back to dealing with our website which has crashed and continue planning the festival, or should we discuss this in more detail? Sorry to be so harsh, but we've always been straight up with people and to have people screaming in capital letters about spending money for nothing because of one local article is absurd.

[scamn]

Once the area is reseeded and grass starts to grow the runoff shouldnt be an issue. Maine is the most wooded state in the country I dont think a couple less trees is going to be an environmental disaster. See you all in 14 days!!

[kincade]

Jun 16, 2010 13:59:06 GMT -5 itrainmonkeys said:

After some well-written responses from some concerned fans (and rightfully so) this is what Nateva responded with:

The reporter has totally messed up her facts and there is simply no truth to the notion that we can't use the hill. This is the second article that she has written that uses Nateva as the headline and has nothing to do with Nateva. The Fairgrounds is applying for some sort of building permit and that was what this was all about. We are a renter of the land. We have the appropriate permits from the town of Oxford, Norway and The State of Maine. We have spoken with Norway's Chief of Police and Town Manager and both agree that this has nothing to do with Nateva. Sorry you believe everything you read in the paper. Can we go back to dealing with our website which has crashed and continue planning the festival, or should we discuss this in more detail? Sorry to be so harsh, but we've always been straight up with people and to have people screaming in capital letters about spending money for nothing because of one local article is absurd.

yikes - if he were my PR guy, he'd be fired - one doesn't talk to paying customers like they are a pain in the @ss - if that person has too much going on to deal with the public's questions, they should hand the public facing voice/tasks to someone who has a bit more time/less stress.

edit to add: I actually would nominate ITM - always seems to have a level headed, non heated response, even to the most inane of comments

[andyisdesigning]

is itrainmonkeys affiliated with Nateva? if yes i agree with kincade, no need for the rage, but I can sympathize. You know peeps like to poke, prod, accuse and speculate on these boards, especially when they know they're getting under your skin, sometimes you need to just walk away.

[itrainmonkeys]

Jun 16, 2010 14:12:36 GMT -5 kincade said:

yikes - if he were my PR guy, he'd be fired - one doesn't talk to paying customers like they are a pain in the @ss - if that person has too much going on to deal with the public's questions, they should hand the public facing voice/tasks to someone who has a bit more time/less stress.

Good point. I hear what you're saying but you also have to remember that they are probably getting a lot of questions/complaints about the article....not just on Facebook but probably phone calls and e-mails and all that. They also probably didn't want to cause any problems with the author of the article or the newspaper so they tried to just keep the response down and let the issue fade away......but then they had to respond.

To be honest, it's not really that big of a deal (the facebook response from Nateva, that is) because a month from now nobody will remember it and it won't hurt anybody's time at the festival. Almost every festival has a lot of complaints/concerns/problems from their customers right before the date of the event. Some won't even respond to the customers....but Nateva has been pretty open to the public for a while.

Plus i'm sure the website problems are dominating their time and focus.

edit to add: I actually would nominate ITM - always seems to have a level headed, non heated response, even to the most inane of comments

I appreciate it. I have to keep a level head on here. Anything negative I post could be turned around into "the mods are Nazis" and things along those lines. I'm just happy to be helping with what I expect to be an AWESOME festival.

[digforfire]

We all just need to breathe. This is not going to be a problem. Reporters are just beating this festival to death. Let's keep it positive!

[itrainmonkeys]

Jun 16, 2010 14:21:32 GMT -5 andyisdesigning said:

is itrainmonkeys affiliated with Nateva? if yes i agree with kincade, no need for the rage, but I can sympathize. You know peeps like to poke, prod, accuse and speculate on these boards, especially when they know they're getting under your skin, sometimes you need to just walk away.

Not totally affiliated really.

I'm just a music lover and festival-goer. I post a lot on inforoo.com, a message board for Bonnaroo.

This year when Nateva was announced I knew I was going but since it's new there was no discussion place. Jeff (mojo4395) and myself started this forum/message board so that we could have a place for discussion of specifically this festival (among other things).

A short while after creating this, we got contacted by Nateva who said they planned on their own forum but they liked ours better and so they offered us the chance to be the "Official Nateva Message Board".

We were flattered and of course willing to do it. So, while i'm not really a Nateva employee or anything like that....I know a few people on the inside.

But be sure.....i'm just a music lover who can't wait for this festival....much like the rest of you.