A new 5,000-seat amphitheater in downtown Winston-Salem is being proposed by local business leaders, but municipal authorities are not yet prepared to approve it.
Don Flow of Flow Automotive and Jim Brammer of Concert Stuff Group hope to draw larger performers to Winston by constructing the facility next to the Benton Convention Center. In order to accomplish this, they would like the city to lease them undeveloped parkland.
Council members said at a committee meeting on Monday that the idea was hurried. An amphitheater might not be the best use of the land, according to Mayor Pro Tem D.D. Adams.
“The Council must decide whether we want to use the land for housing, economic development, or other purposes if we have land that we can use for anything as a city entity,” she said.
Council Member Barbara Hanes Burke echoed her argument. Although she was generally in favor, Regina Ford Hall, a council member, expressed her concerns about traffic and noise pollution.
Adams cautioned colleagues to anticipate resistance during the public comment period, notwithstanding the committee’s decision to forward the plan to the full Council for review.
