Tailgating at Fraze coming to an end

Neighbors unhappy with some who don’t pay but party outside the Fraze.

KETTERING — People who like to listen to Fraze Pavilion concerts without paying to get in are the targets of a new plan to end the practice.

The city and some private property owners near the Fraze, 695 Lincoln Park Blvd., want to prohibit trespassing in areas along Lincoln Park Boulevard between Isaac Prugh Way and Commons Way. The boulevard splits at Isaac Prugh Way and Commons Way and surrounds the concert venue.

“Private property is not going to be available,” Mary Beth Thaman, Kettering’s director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department, told Kettering City Council members during their Tuesday, March 9, work session.

The city plans to add no trespassing signs in these private property areas and increase police patrol when necessary, City Manager Mark Schwieterman said. The city also wants to make sure the sidewalks near these private properties are opened up for traveling pedestrians.

Concerns about trespassing on private property near the Fraze arose after complaints from private property owners, Schwieterman said.

“Their properties are getting decimated,” Thaman said of One Lincoln Park, a senior housing facility; Lincoln Park Manor, assisted living and rehabilitation facility, and at least three buildings within the 500 block of Lincoln Park Boulevard. “The behavior of the (non-paying concert-goers) has gotten worse.”

Thaman said the city gets complaints from residents who cannot sit on their own property because someone is urinating in front of them.

City officials and private property owners also are concerned about littering and issues concerning landscape damage.

Schwieterman said the plan isn’t final but no trespassing signs will be up before the Fraze’s new season starts May 14.

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