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CHANG WATCH: The Official Topic

Talk about anything that has to do with Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor here.
Postby FParker185 on May 24th, 2010, 6:39 pm
The color scheme may be revealed Wed at the Zoning Board meeting, usually the village asks or wants to know. That could answer a lot of questions in itself.
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Postby Goku1910 on May 24th, 2010, 6:42 pm
I will look for that too.

I will either post it here, or in a new topic. I'll ask Brian P. first.
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Postby david on May 24th, 2010, 6:43 pm
If that is true, you'll see me there.
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Postby Chitown on May 24th, 2010, 7:02 pm
We don't need a new topic. Just post whatever happens at the meeting here.
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Postby BrianPlencner on May 24th, 2010, 10:15 pm
Ok, I feel the need to post this, just as a heads up to those that have not attended a past Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. I also posted this somewhere on facebook as well. So, if you read it over there, or have been to one before, I do want to apologize in advance.

#1: If you do attend, the meeting is NOT in any way an open forum for coaster nuts to bombard the park with questions. I would suggest that if you go, you sit, you watch, take lots of notes, and then report here what you saw and heard. This is really a way for local residents to voice their concerns or support, for the park. Now, if you live in Gurnee, you can of course make comments, as they would be relevant to the final decision by the members of the ZBA.

#2: This should go without saying, but the park, as required by the ordinances of the Village of Gurnee, is required to file a height variation petition request anytime the park wants to add a structure that exceeds 125 feet in height. That is what this meeting is for. To support the request of the park, they will bring information about the ride. This can include, but is not limited to drawings of the proposed structure (in this case, the coaster), builder (B&M, Arrow, etc) type of ride (Wood / Steel) elements (loops, high speed banked turns, etc), type of trains, number of cars per train, etc. A lot of the questions us coaster people have will probably be answered by the presentation the park has to give to the board.

#3: This meeting is step #1 of a two step process. The ZBA will take a vote after it has heard all sides of the request. If approved, the request will move on to step #2, which is the Village of Gurnee Board of Trustees. One of the members of this board is the Mayor of Gurnee. Why this is important is that just because the ZBA approves the request, does not mean things are final. The Gurnee Board of Trustees also has to approve this request as well. During that meeting, people who are for (or against) the petition have a final say on this matter, to help sway the vote of the Trustees. That meeting is also open to the public, and all points posted here apply to that as well.

#4 While you don't have to show up in a suit and tie, showing up in your favorite coaster t-shirt and ripped jeans may not be the best option. If you have to ask why, see point #1 & #2 above.



I have attended the ZBA's for Raging Bull, V2, and Deja Vu. All three provided me with a lot of information about the new ride, as well as some "interesting" comments by the locals. The one comment that sticks will me was from an older resident that lives near the park off of Grand Ave (the houses between the Grand Ave gate and McDonald's). He said that it was not the extra traffic that bothered him, or the sounds of the rides. But, what did "grind his gears" was the screams of the riders. :roll:

With SFGAm being the only item on the agenda, the meeting will probably last about 15-30 minutes.

I will be in attendance, and look forward to seeing who all shows up, and finding out what information the park has to say about this new attraction.

--Brian
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Postby Jcoaster95 on May 24th, 2010, 10:26 pm
I'll definitely be there.
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Postby david on May 24th, 2010, 10:38 pm
I'll be there hopefully. I do have one question to the park though. How will the alleged new coaster affect the parking lot area.
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Postby Galvan on May 24th, 2010, 10:58 pm
If your in the area, or live in Gurnee then go to this meeting, but if you live id say more then 15 minutes away from the park, it would be pointless, and pretty well... stupid to waste your time, gas and money going.

We will have coverage on the meeting from the people that live close enough to the park, Brian of course does for the most part, and will be the best set of eyes and ears there.
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Postby Goku1910 on May 24th, 2010, 11:14 pm
david wrote:I'll be there hopefully. I do have one question to the park though. How will the alleged new coaster affect the parking lot area.


Did you not read that important post from Brian? :roll:
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Postby david on May 24th, 2010, 11:14 pm
If there are any diagrams or photos of the new ride, please please please get them for us, just in case I can't go, because right now, odds are, I can't.
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Postby Goku1910 on May 24th, 2010, 11:15 pm
Galvan316 wrote:If your in the area, or live in Gurnee then go to this meeting, but if you live id say more then 15 minutes away from the park, it would be pointless, and pretty well... stupid to waste your time, gas and money going.

We will have coverage on the meeting from the people that live close enough to the park, Brian of course does for the most part, and will be the best set of eyes and ears there.


I'm only going for the experience. Never been to one before.
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Postby david on May 24th, 2010, 11:16 pm
I've gone to a Des Plaines Zoning Board meeting for the Des Plaines Theater removal, when I was like 9. haha.
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Postby Chitown on May 25th, 2010, 6:38 pm
Some of you are talking like you need info on what the ride is going to be.

It's not a new ride and we all know what it is.
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Postby Cole on May 25th, 2010, 6:43 pm
^Yeah but theyre going to see if they can get any info on a retheme, or something of the sorts.
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Postby Goku1910 on May 25th, 2010, 6:57 pm
Bizzaro Badger wrote:^Yeah but theyre going to see if they can get any info on a retheme, or something of the sorts.


Shapiro already told us that Chang would re-appear with a new theme. It's just IF they reveal what the theme will be.
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Postby BrianPlencner on May 25th, 2010, 7:18 pm
Goku1910 wrote:
Bizzaro Badger wrote:^Yeah but theyre going to see if they can get any info on a retheme, or something of the sorts.


Shapiro already told us that Chang would re-appear with a new theme. It's just IF they reveal what the theme will be.


Again, this type of question coming from someone who does not live in Gurnee, or someone that does not (and sorry if this sounds non-PC, but its the only way I can say it) have a lot of voting power, really does not impact the choice of the ZBA. The ZBA will be looking at the impact of the ride in regards to the local residents who live around the park. They will also look to see if the addition will help improve the $$$ the park brings in.

Yes, to us coaster nuts, SOME of us will go more often if its a re-theme, vs if it is exactly as it was in SFKK. But, to a normal, non-coaster nut that goes to the park once a year? It really does not matter. So, don't waste your time and ask that question.

Bottom line is, the park will probably offer up a lot of information about that on their own. Here's a good example: At the ZBA for Raging Bull, they did not say the name of the ride. However, the park did say it would be going in the SW Territory section of the park, and have a "SouthWest" theme to it, and the track would twist around buildings and stuff. A lot of that never happened due to cost, but the point is, without giving away to much, those in attendance knew the "theme" of the ride without anyone asking the park.

Also, there are a few members of the ZBA that have somewhat of a "coaster" background..they are not nuts like us, but they do ask the right questions of the park.

Again, if you live close enough, and what to hear first hand what the park says, then by all means go. But, don't start asking questions about theming, what it will do to the parking lot, where the entrance will be, will the trains be floorless, what will happen with Iron Wolfs trains, etc. Again, ITS NOT that kind of meeting.

--Brian
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Postby FParker185 on May 25th, 2010, 7:25 pm
Also other than possibly a color scheme will be met with "That information will be included with the official announcement".
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Postby Cole on May 26th, 2010, 3:09 pm
Well, we'll probabley be able to figure out the possible theme by the color the park announces.
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Postby wishman35 on May 26th, 2010, 4:26 pm
I will not go to this meeting, but if I could ask ONE question I would ask what benefit does the addition of another stand up ride offer currently? Even though we don't know if it will remain one, if it does indeed stay stand up, it is pretty clear that Iron Wolf is probably the least popular major coaster in the park. Considering Demon's age, I would rank it higher in popularity.

With that said, why not make it into something that is more comfortable for riders and will induce re-ridability? People love to re-ride Raging Bull and abhor re-riding Iron Wolf. I understand they are different rides and even though Chang may be smoother, it still is a head shaker and will foster complaints from people about headaches and from men about "ball-aches". They are a ridiculed ride type.

I will be happy with any new ride to play with and its ability to divert traffic from other rides (at least for the first year). But I am still hoping they get creative and change it up!
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Postby monsterfan99 on May 26th, 2010, 5:51 pm
^To me, Chang is in no-way a headbanger. Actually, Iron Wolf is the only B&M stand-up of the 4 I've ridden (along with Mantis and GA Scorcher) that was a headbanger.
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Postby BrianPlencner on May 26th, 2010, 9:35 pm
I posted this to my notes section on facebook. For those that don't have it, and to make it easy, I'll just post it all here.

ZBA Meeting, 05/26/2010

Park president Hank spoke to the Zoning Board of Appeals tonight in regards to a height variation petition submitted by the park. The request was done as the park is looking to add a new coaster to the front of the park, in the space that used to be home to the Space Shuttle ride.

Hank started out his presentation by saying that Six Flags was in the process of relocating a coaster from another park, and they have picked Six Flags Great America to be that park. Two height variations were asked for tonight: One for the lift hill of the ride, which is 150 feet, and a 2nd at 137 feet. No mention of what part of the ride would be at the 137 foot mark.

Hank also said that the ride is a big one, and has a big footprint. It will be a steel Stand up coaster, made by B&M.

When asked by members of the board what the name of the new coaster would be, Hank's reply was "They were still working on a name".

---------------------------------
My comments: With that information, the new coaster is of course CHANG from Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Site drawings were brought by the park, and I did get a look at them, and it is indeed, Chang.
Keep in mind that Hank did say STAND UP coaster, so any thoughts or hopes at this point of a conversion to a floor-less coaster are now gone.

---------------------------


Once Hank was done speaking, the floor was opened up to allow the public to speak. What's interesting about this part of the meeting is that everyone who voiced their concerns about the request did not say that the actual height of the coaster was the issue. Keep in mind that this was a request for a variance to the 1974 ordnance that says that the park must put in a request for a height variance anytime they want to add anything over 125 feet. No structure can be taller then 310 feet. This process is to allow (or deny) a request to build something based on the actual object itself, and the impact on the area (site lines, noise of the actual object, visual appearance, etc).

EVERY Person who came up to speak made comments about the screams of the park guests on the rides, the late hours that the rides run, the concerts the park has, the music from the water park, the people who walk/drive thought the neighborhoods near the park (and the mess they leave behind), the holes in the fence, the traffic, etc. One of them even said that it was not the height that bothered them, but everything (and I probably missed a few items) I said above did.

Once the public had their say, it was time for the board to discuss the request, and take a vote. One of the members of the ZBA came right out and said that while the comments by the residents may be valid, and would be included in the minutes of the meeting, NONE of them expressed a concern in regards to the ride. This member went on to say that the residents comments would play NO PART in the vote by the board that evening. However, he did follow up those comments to say that the ZBA does not have the final say in this request. The Village Board of Gurnee must also hear the request, public comment, and then take a final vote. It would be a future Village Board of Gunree Meeting that comments like the ones made tonight would have a better impact, and would be taken into consideration in regards to the final vote.


In the end, the ZBA approved the request by Six Flags Great America to build this new coaster. The request now moves on to the Village Board, where a final approval will be needed.






--Brian
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Postby Cole on May 26th, 2010, 9:41 pm
No floorless :(
Atleast is being re-themed. Thanks Brian!
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Postby Paradise on May 26th, 2010, 9:49 pm
What are the chances it is denied in that final poll?
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Postby lord soth on May 26th, 2010, 9:56 pm
Great update, Brian. I am guessing that a name (or theme) is not official as of yet as they first need approval to assemble the ride in the first place, then need to secure the licensing (if they choose so) needed. Let's not put the cart before the horse here.

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Postby Cole on May 26th, 2010, 9:57 pm
1-None.

Six flags is on good terms with the Villiage Board, and they have never turned down a request from six flags.
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