Four months after vote to bring Ultra back to downtown, there’s still no contract

Ultra Music Festival is selling tickets for its scheduled return to Bayfront Park in March 2020, but organizers do not yet have a contract to stage the three-day concert on Miami’s downtown waterfront.

Four months after Miami commissioners voted to allow the event to return to Bayfront Park, city administrators and Ultra’s organizers have not signed the licensing agreement that would allow the electronic dance music festival to use the public park.

Ticket sales are under way for the festival, scheduled for March 20-22. Last week, Ultra announced headliners that include Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Major Lazer and Afrojack.

Yet with only about four months left before the festival is supposed to open, Miami administrators said they are still finalizing the deal and offered no specifics on why it has taken four months to ink a contract that was discussed at length over the summer.

“We are actively working to finish up the agreement,” reads a statement from Miami’s administration.

Ultra organizers did not return a request for comment.

At this point in 2018, festival officials were scrambling to prepare for an unexpected move to Virginia Key for the March 2019 event, a hastily organized affair that caused headaches for fans.

In previous years, Ultra worked out agreements faster with the semi-autonomous agency that manages the park, the Bayfront Park Management Trust. This year, the City Commission and administration — the government that outranks the trust — chose to handle the high-profile Ultra deal instead.

The festival would have other deadlines to meet once a contract is signed, including payments to the city, a traffic management plan and permits.

Commissioners approved the festival’s return to Bayfront Park over objections from neighbors who live in condo towers across from the park. They cited the event’s booming sounds levels as health hazards that could lead to hearing loss, rattle their cabinets and generally prevent them from enjoying their homes in peace. Neighbors also complained about decreased access to the park during the month it takes Ultra to set up, hold the event, then tear down the stages.

In 2018, the festival was booted from downtown after a tense summer-long debate among commissioners laced with political quarrels and increasing outcry from neighbors. After hastily moving to Virginia Key for the 2019 event, the festival was marked with disorganized logistics that left organizers and fans displeased, along with new noise complaints from other parts of the city. Ultra voluntarily backed out of another year at the key before commissioners could consider approving another year.

Commissioners did reconsider a move back to Bayfront Park. In July, they agreed to make exceptions to the park’s rules for large-scale events just for Ultra. Besides the fear that the loud music would hurt their hearing, residents were bothered that Ultra was not required to strictly adhere to rules set up to protect neighbors’ interests when big events are held in the park.

Meanwhile, supporters touted Ultra’s move back to downtown as a win for local merchants and hotels. Business boosters said Ultra’s economic impact is on par with a Super Bowl. Coincidentally, Super Bowl 54 will be played in Miami Gardens in February, and a fan event will be staged in Bayfront Park.

To address residents’ concerns over Ultra in a year when the park will be used by multiple private events, the city negotiated terms that reduced the number of days the park would be completely closed and lowered the maximum decibel level of the concert.

Those terms and others, discussed in drafts of the agreement from the summer and hashed out verbally by commissioners before the vote, are still not documented in final form.