{"id":243930,"date":"2026-04-23T22:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243930\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:56:10","slug":"city-of-miami-commission-approves-renewed-contract-for-ultra-music-festival-incorporating-noise-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243930\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Miami commission approves renewed contract for Ultra Music Festival incorporating noise concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>City commissioners voted Thursday to grant the Ultra Music Festival a renewable five-year contract, which keeps the annual event in Bayfront Park under new terms and language.<\/p>\n<p>The new contract incorporates noise decibel limits established in a 2021 settlement agreement between Ultra and the Downtown Neighbors&#8217; Alliance. City commissioners also added language requiring the festival to hold two community meetings each year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is a small win,&#8221; said James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance. Both sides appeared satisfied after the vote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is where [the Ultra Music Festival] started, and Miami is in our DNA,&#8221; said Ray Martinez, Chief of Security for Ultra Music Festival.<\/p>\n<p>The commission vote followed extensive lobbying during public comments. The commissioners had initially considered a proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/miami\/news\/miami-city-officials-abruptly-cancelling-meeting-about-ultra-music-festivals-contract-renewal\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">20-year contract <\/a>with Ultra.<\/p>\n<p>During Thursday&#8217;s city commission meeting, a woman described the matter as &#8220;truly one of the few whose side are you on issues,&#8221; while another resident said the initial proposed agreement&#8217;s terms were &#8220;balanced and fair&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Supporters of the 20-year proposal considered it a &#8220;no-lose&#8221; money maker that annually generates millions of dollars for the city of Miami and local businesses. <\/p>\n<p>The electronic music festival attracts crowds from around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Realtor Charles Rattner said the festival also helps him attract customers. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t live downtown,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So I certainly don&#8217;t poo-poo the impact that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/miami\/news\/kick-off-ultra-music-festival-residents-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">physical noise<\/a> has on neighbors, but by the same token, many of those same people bought their units knowing what was there, and they bought them maybe because of what was there&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Downtown Neighbors&#8217; Alliance (DNA) filed a lawsuit against Ultra management on Wednesday, accusing Ultra leaders of repeatedly violating the 2021 settlement focused on noise levels.<\/p>\n<p>The groups had planned to meet in May to discuss a resolution. However, the DNA&#8217;s lawyer and members asked the commission to stall their planned vote on Ultra&#8217;s future on Thursday. The group felt the initial contract terms would give Ultra no incentive to change its noise management practices.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Allow us to let the legal process play out, number one,&#8221; said Adam Cervera, lawyer for the DNA. &#8220;Allow us to sit down with the folks at Ultra who already reached out to me and see if we can reach some resolution&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Torres added that while the festival should be part of Miami&#8217;s history and legacy, &#8220;they should be held accountable&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Hours later, the city commissioners agreed on the revised contract that both sides accepted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City commissioners voted Thursday to grant the Ultra Music Festival a renewable five-year contract, which keeps the annual&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[19943,833,123,125,124,1064,1407,807],"class_list":{"0":"post-243930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-edm","9":"tag-lawsuit","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-headlines","12":"tag-miami-news","13":"tag-miami-dade","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-south-florida"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}