DEERFIELD — With residents’ complaints about disruptive noise from Tree House Brewing Co. piling up, the Selectboard recently discussed revising the town’s entertainment license conditions.
According to Assistant Town Administrator Greg Snedeker, the town has received 34 complaints about noise disrupting residents’ homes since the brewery’s first Summer Stage concert. Snedeker noted this number marks a decrease in complaints from last year.
During the Selectboard’s Wednesday meeting, three Whately Road residents expressed frustration with noise from the concerts invading their homes and the town’s response.
Matt Tuttle said the soundchecks before Tree House Brewing Co.’s summer concerts disrupt those who work from home.
“This ongoing noise pollution has had a serious impact on my family’s quality of life,” Tuttle said. “The town has constantly placed Tree House profits ahead of the well-being of its residents.”
He added, “The noise pollution is a problem created by Tree House, but the Selectboard’s decisions have made it our problem to live with.”
Bev Boykan echoed Tuttle’s comment, claiming, “There has been noise — it’s not music, it’s noise — since the very first concert.” Later in the meeting, she invited the Selectboard, Town Administrator Chris Dunne and Snedeker to visit her home during the next concert. “You’ve got to witness it.”
“I just really want the Selectboard to hear our concern and note that it is 100% valid,” added Noelle Doherty.
Selectboard Chair Trevor McDaniel said the proposed revisions to the entertainment license represent the town “trying to find ways to alleviate the frustrations people have.”
The first possible license revision the Selectboard discussed requires all musical acts, performers and bands performing on an outdoor stage to use the PA sound system provided by the business without any additional external PA systems “for amplification purposes,” unless the Selectboard grants approval beforehand.
The Selectboard also discussed a revision requiring the sound system operator to “make all reasonable efforts to adhere to sound level recommendations set forth in the World Health Organization’s global standard for safe listening,” reads a draft of the condition.
According to the World Health Organization’s website, this global standard includes six rules: the decibel level of the amplified music must not exceed 100 decibels; the operator of the sound equipment must monitor the sound levels live; the sound system and acoustics of the venue must be “optimized”; hearing protection, like ear plugs, must be available at the venue; the space must include designated quiet zones; and the audience and venue staff must be “made aware of practical steps they can take to ensure safe listening.”
The Selectboard also discussed a “schooltime condition,” as McDaniel called it, requiring that events, including gatherings with amplified music, cease by 10 p.m. Selectboard Clerk Tim Hilchey said the weekday concerts at the start of the school year create “not an ideal situation.”
McDaniel stressed the significance of this proposed condition, stating, “I feel extremely strong about this.”
The Selectboard also discussed a condition defining the start and end dates for event seasons at businesses with the entertainment license.
“There’s what we want, and there’s also what’s legal,” McDaniel said. “There’s work that still needs to be done on this.”
If the Selectboard decides to solidify these ideas into official revisions, the revisions would take effect when business’ entertainment licenses are renewed in December.
Hilchey clarified that the proposed revisions would not only apply to Tree House Brewing Co., but all town businesses with an entertainment license.
“It just happens that Tree House is the current concert company that is affecting people’s lives,” Hilchey said.
Hilchey added that the Selectboard plans to “work collaboratively” with Tree House Brewing Co. to brainstorm specific solutions for the noise complaints. As an example, Hilchey mentioned potential stage design changes to reduce bass noise from traveling into residents’ homes.
“The Selectboard and town administration is aware that we need to work on this in a more successful way than we have in the last couple of years,” Hilchey said. “It’s a work in progress.”
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