MESSAGE TO COMMUNITY PLANNERS!
FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT CENTERS ARE GOOD NEIGHBORS!
By Peter F. Olesen P.E.
Introduction:
This article is addressed to the community leaders, administrators and citizens of any community considering an application to construct and operate a family entertainment center. Its purpose is to present realistic information concerning the realities of a facility proposed to become a fixture in your community.
Many people have never visited a modern family entertainment center and therefore may have formed misguided opinions as to the impact a family entertainment center (FEC) will have on the local neighborhood in which it is proposed to be built. It is hoped that the information presented in this article is read with an open mind. Once you have had the opportunity to read and evaluate the information presented herein, you should have a better understanding as to what an FEC is and what it is not.
FECs may consist of a concession go-
An FEC can only succeed if the local community accepts it and finds it to be a positive addition. Most potential developers of FECs are people with a strong desire to be a positive factor in the life and development of their local community. Those who do not have this approach will be setting a course toward failure. Properly designed, constructed and operated, family entertainment centers will be positive additions to any community, not only in providing clean entertaining recreation for a wide segment of the community for many years to come. As the name implies, they provide family entertainment for a broad cross section of the American family, from toddlers to seniors.
This article is based on factual technical information as well as experience with
numerous new and existing FECS around the country. Most facilities are properly
operated, do not accept rowdy or anti-
We ask that this article be read with an open mind. Once you have read the information contained herein, visited existing facilities or contacted other communities to find out their experiences, we feel you will have a positive attitude toward the concept and an open mind with respect to the local developer's proposed project. Unfortunately, there are times when "the fear of the unknown" generates opposition to one of the potentially best family oriented attractions that can be developed within your community. Properly conceived, designed, constructed and operated facilities will provide positive experiences for the entire community, including families, youths, adults and senior citizens.
In every community there exists a desire for family entertainment and recreation beyond the local theaters, fast food outlets, organized sports, school and church activities. While some communities are fortunate to have available a wide range of such activities, both publicly funded and private, this is not the usual situation.
Most communities lack outside activities for almost every age group, especially pre-
Of course, it is possible to make family outings to regional and destination theme parks and related facilities. The problems with this solution include the following:
Requires a major time commitment..
The cost per family unit is high for both travel and admission costs.
For destination facilities the cost of food and lodging must be added.
For many families, these visits are not economically feasible. Even for those families that can afford them, such trips are usually taken on an annual or longer spacing. Therefore, the shorter, less costly visits on a more frequent basis provide a benefit to everyone.
The development of FECs over the years has provided the public in many communities to have an alternative to doing nothing, hanging out at the mall, becoming couch potatoes or becoming involved in antisocial activities (this is especially true for the teen age segment of the community). They take many forms and provide countless numbers of family and other group activities governed by time constraints, economics, personal preference and physical limitations.
Outdoor or combined indoor/outdoor facilities offer the potential of providing the greatest variety of activities. Properly conceived, they can provide entertainment opportunities over the complete age range from toddler to grandparent. Proper conception, design and construction enable FECs to become valuable assets to any community. By their nature, they are happy places where people enjoy themselves. Integral to their success is becoming attractive additions to their neighborhood.
Careful selection of attractions assures that they appeal to both individuals and groups, providing opportunities to observe or participate as they choose. Enjoyment can be gained from both approaches. Success of the FEC also depends on acceptance by the local community. As a result, planning must include consideration of its impact on the surrounding community. This includes consideration of appearance, the people attracted, traffic on adjacent streets, noise, lighting, drainage and related issues.
In developing an FEC in any community, both the developer and the designer seek to create an appealing, comfortable and entertaining environment for families. To be successful, the facility must attract repeat attendance. These characteristics are the same ones that will generate a good neighbor image for the surrounding community. Often, people associate FECs with the old time amusement parks that came into being more than a hundred years ago. These facilities were usually a collection of hard rides and a midway consisting of individual games and rides managed by separate owners. Often they were staffed by and attracted unsavory people. Most were not well maintained or policed. The lack of coordinated efforts to make the facilities more attractive to families contributed to the closing of many.
FECs, on the other hand, follow the example of the modern theme park industry in seeking to provide clean, wholesome, family oriented entertainment in an attractive environment. They also seek to discourage attendance by trouble makers and gangs. The goal of creating a comfortable and enjoyable facility spans assembling attractions that provide entertainment for the whole family and presenting an appealing physical environment, to controlling noise and lighting levels.
Impact on the Community
A properly designed FEC will have a positive impact on the community it serves. This includes providing an elective activity, generating additional revenue for other businesses in the area, increasing tax revenue, providing jobs for residents and related benefits.
Obviously an FEC will generate more traffic, but not in the concentrated volumes that would result from many other businesses allowed under the existing zoning classification for the site. Further, the traffic it does generate will not be concentrated during peak hour traffic periods on the adjacent highway system.
As the site has certain capacity constraints due to the number of attractions, available parking and related elements, people attending the FEC will vary their times to avoid overcrowding. This will, in effect, reduce peak period traffic volumes.
Having an FEC in the community will keep many younger members of the community closer to home. This will also result in more of the community's available disposal income being spent in the community, as well as attracting revenue from neighboring communities.
Appearance of Facility
There is no single formula for creating an attractive facility that will appeal to everyone. This is equally true in terms of homes, schools, churches, shopping centers, offices, municipal buildings, stores, parks and so on. In recognition of this, most communities have established guidelines, ordinances or other controls to assure acceptable designs.
It is important, however, that the FEC be attractive to the vast majority of its
guests, or it will not be successful. Therefore, appearance must be an integral
part in the development of the concept plan, which includes the individual attractions
and related facilities. Consideration must also be given to what is visible from
off-
On-
Modern Lighting of Family Entertainment Centers
Proper lighting is an integral part of the design of any FEC. It affects the safety and operation of the individual attractions and the total facility. Lighting also has an impact on the facility's acceptance by the local community.
It is unfortunate that many misconceptions exist in the average community with respect
to the lighting proposed by individual FEC developments. Lighting can be both friend
and foe of everyone, depending upon how it is being considered. We all want our
personal environment to have sufficient light for comfort and security, but none
of us want to feel imposed on by light generated by others. This difference must
be an important consideration of both designer and developer in the creation of a
successful FEC concept. The sense of security at any given FEC is enhanced by provision
of sufficient levels of lighting throughout the facility. This is true in the parking
lot, arcade building, go-
Obviously, it is impossible to create a facility with lights that cannot be seen
from the surrounding area. Even a single 100-
Whenever luminaires are mounted at significant heights, sharp cut-
Average light levels of 20 foot-
Relative Noise Levels at Family Entertainment Centers
Every facility generates noise, as does every vehicle, person, pet, appliance and machine in the surrounding community. They do so over a wide range of sound levels. Recognizing this, each well designed FEC will give consideration of the impact individual attractions will have on the surrounding neighborhood, in developing the best configuration of attractions.
As attractions go, FECs are low-
Most FECs use music as a muted background and use loudspeakers judiciously. These
can be set at levels acceptable to the neighbors. As a comparison, even the lowly
lawn mower generates a much higher noise level than the concession go-
Available noise studies for Honda go-
One of the most detailed sound studies we have seen was based on the Honda GX 160,
the most widely used concession go-
What these studies have not taken into consideration is the fact that while the Honda
engines were run at full throttle, the typical concession go-
It is unfortunate that the studies we have seen are based on projections of sound at various distances from the point of noise measurement rather than actual measurements taken at the distances referred to in the study. Most studies we have seen are based on the projection of sound measurements taken at a point 10 feet from the kart, with the engine running at full throttle. The projected sound levels were then computed, assuming a flat surface with no obstructions. These conditions would not occur, other than on an empty airport runway. Any obstructions, including vegetation, which interrupt the direct movement of sound, reduce its level.
Under actual site conditions, sound levels are further reduced or mitigated by a variety of existing conditions and site elements, including the following:
Existing and natural vegetation.
Ambient noise levels from nearby streets and highways.
Physical features such as buildings, berms, fences,parked automobiles and countless other features that may stand in the way of generated noise.
Not all of the karts would be concentrated at one point on the track at the same time, running at full throttle.
Site Generated Traffic
There will, of course, be additional traffic generated by an FEC. Without additional traffic, there would be no facility. This is equally true for any commercial or residential development developed on the property. The total volume of traffic, as well as the peak hour volumes, will not be as heavy as the volumes generated by most other uses permitted under the specific zoning classification. This includes commercial, business or industrial zoning classifications that govern the specific site being developed. Due to the nature of FECs, including long hours of operation, restricted total capacity, wide range of visitor preference in terms of attendance times and related factors, site generated traffic will be distributed over a longer period of time than most other uses.
To illustrate the volumes of traffic that could impact on the local flow of traffic,
we have developed the information presented in the table below for a typical facility
in an average community. It assumes 60,000 visits during a summer season that spans
Memorial Day through Labor Day at an outdoor FEC located in a small to medium city
area. The representative facility consists of an arcade, point of sales and snack
bar building, go-
We arbitrarily adjusted the assumed total days of full operation during this period to 80, to allow for inclement weather. Using these numbers we arrive at 750 visitors per day. Assuming 2.5 visitors per automobile, we compute 300 vehicles arriving at the site on an average day. As peak attendance varies by day and hour, we have developed the tabulation below to present the projected peak number of vehicles arriving at the FEC at different times. Projected peak attendance occurs Friday evenings and on weekends.
For communities, the existing afternoon peak traffic volumes on community streets would occur in the time range from 4:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. and on Saturdays from 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.. Peak hours on Sundays can vary greatly depending on the specific highway or street adjacent to the site. The specific adjacent roadway network serving the facility and the location of the primary market population, will dictate the directional distribution of the peak hour volumes shown above
During the non-
REPRESENTATIVE TRAFFIC FLOW CHARACTERISTICS
FOR
TYPICAL FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT CENTER
Movement Monday Friday Saturday
Thru Thursday And Sunday
Daily Percentage of Weekly Traffic 11 16 20
Daily Vehicle Movements Entering Facility 230 336 420
Peak Hour Percentage of Daily Traffic 20 20 15
Peak Hour Vehicle Movements Entering Facility 46 67 63
The above table demonstrates the anticipated peak hour traffic movements for the FEC. These historically do not occur concurrently with the peak hour traffic periods that occur on the adjacent street system. In most situations, they are different. For most communities, the peak hour traffic flows occur between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM in the morning and between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM in the evenings
.
Check Them out:
Visit several existing FECs to see for yourself how the facilities serve family units, teens and adults alike. Take note of the relaxed and enjoyable attitudes of the guests and staff. The employees and guests alike reflect the overall atmosphere the owner wishes to create for his/her guests.
Conclusions:
FECs are a beneficial addition to the community, providing the local equivalent of
a small theme park, in terms of operations and atmosphere. They attract a cross
section of the local residents and provide a clean, happy and entertaining form of
family and individual recreation. They are not the reincarnation of the old amusement
parks or free standing go-
The impact of a well conceived, constructed and operated FEC on its neighboring community will be positive. It increases the number of jobs available to local residents, provides an attractive, clean and wholesome outlet for the entire age range within the community and will blend into the community landscape.
Peter is a registered Professional Engineer in numerous states and President of Entertainment Concepts, Inc., 126 South Bobby Lane, 205, Mount Prospect,
Illinois 60056. The firm provides consulting services to Concession Go-
© Copyright 2012: Peter F. Olesen