Things are heating up with regards to the noise issue in Belmont. Although official discussion has been deferred until February, City Council will hold a special session this Thursday, where the Belmont-Carlton Neighborhood Association (BCNA) is expected to hand down recommendations on what a noise ordinance could entail.
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Belmont restaurant and music hall Bel Rio registered an average noise level of 59 decibels during a night of music last week, according to C-VILLE’s decibel meter. Belmont residents met the same week to discuss a noise ordinance that would enforce a volume of 55dB or lower after 11pm, rather than the current 75dB. |
The BCNA met on Monday, January 11, at the Bridge, where association president Jesse Fiske led a roundtable discussion of about 25 members.
“It’s important for us to get this noise ordinance right,” Fiske reminded members at the meeting. “We’ve put a lot of careful consideration into this, and we all want something that we can feel proud of.”
Talks began this past summer when Andrew Ewell and Hannah Pittard sought to change their private residence at 814 Hinton into a commercial restaurant called Southern Crescent, a move that proposed expanded zoning for Belmont’s commercial strip. While the restaurant’s proposal was approved, the addition of a seventh bar in the neighborhood raised larger questions of what noise means for its residents.
An ordinance was suggested to drop the decibel level from 75dB down to 55dB for businesses after 11pm. According to Belmont inhabitant Brad Merricks, “The area has become a party district for people who don’t live in the neighborhood.”
The major target of BCNA complaint is Bel Rio, a restaurant and bar on the corner of Monticello Road and Douglas Avenue, which hosts live music nightly. Jim Tolbert, director of Neighborhood Development Services, told City Council on January 4 that “we really only have one restaurant that has a noise issue in Belmont, that we get complaints about,” referring to Bel Rio.
“I live right in back of that music hall and I get no sleep whatsoever until the bands stop playing,” insisted Shirley Shotwell at Monday’s meeting. “I have lived in this house since 1971. I am 73 years old and I need rest.”
“I personally think 55dB is too low,” countered Belmont resident Kim Deeds. “I do think we need a small sound decrease in the ordinance. But we also need to make patrons aware, ‘You’re in our neighborhood now, you need to be mindful.’”
So how low is 55dB?
During a recent weeknight, C-VILLE took decibel readings less than 200 feet from Bel Rio. No music was heard on the streets at 9:32pm, where the average decibel level was 53dB. By 10:15 p.m., Christian Breeden & Dirty Horse were well into their first rock ’n’ roll set. Decibel readings were taken less than 100 feet from the front and back of Bel Rio, as well as up the hill on Douglas. The average decibel level was 59dB, with a peak of 63.4dB.
These readings can be deceiving, however. A constant throb of drums and bass was evident, even up to 200 feet behind Bel Rio.
“We are trying to work it out with the community,” insists Melissa Easter, landlord of the building which houses both La Taza and Bel Rio. “But so far, no one has written me a letter. We find it all out in the news, and that is so disheartening.”
City Council’s special session with the BCNA will take place at CitySpace on the Downtown Mall, January 21, at 6pm.
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