Red Rocks Mulls Over Installing Handrails

AP Photo – Red Rocks Amph.
Mary Wilson, of Denver, works out by climbing the rows of seats at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Morrison, Colo.

When you’re as loved as Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo., sometimes it gets hard to make changes without fans voicing concern.

The venue is hoping to remove numerous juniper trees to install handrails in different points to get itself up to code, according to Live For Live Music, but the nonprofit Friends of Red Rocks, which helped the venue achieve National Historic Landmark status in 2015, has a problem with the idea of the new addition.

“We are opposed to any changes with the planter boxes. We feel the trees have historic value, and do not want to see railings, trees removed, or any part of the planter boxes paved,” FoRR wrote on its website.

“The current proposal to alter the planter boxes originated in the desire of the City and County of Denver to pave over parts of the boxes and remove the original trees planted by Civilian Conservation Corps workers in the 1930s,” a representative of the nonprofit told Pollstar in a statement. “This project was not generated by any directive from the Denver Building Department; instead, the International Building Code is being used as a cover to advance an ill-advised plan.”

“Bottom line: if the City of Denver insists on enforcing an arbitrary standard in this case, it will not only increase risk, but also compromise the historical integrity of Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and contradict the Secretary of The Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.”

Because changes to the publicly owned venue require approval from the Landmark Preservation Commission, the plan is open to public debate.

A recent inspection by a specialist showed that two trees were dead and 11 were in poor condition, but eight were in good condition and 35 were in fair condition, Live For Live Music reported, and the City is creating an updated plan to preserve the live trees and remove the unhealthy ones, replacing them with shrubbery.

Representatives of the City of Denver responsible for Red Rocks Amphitheatre couldn’t be reached for comment at press time.