By Dawn De Busk
About two months after Club 302 officially opened its doors, two letters – complaining about noise levels emitting from the establishment when live bands are playing, and written or signed by residents on nearby Oak Lane – have circulated through the town offices and ended up being read at a recent Windham Town Council meeting.
Club 302, which opened in late April after the State Liquor Board reversed its denial of the sports bar’s alcohol license – following the council voting down the license by 3-2, is located in the same strip mall as the post office and Goodwill store. Oak Lane is a dead-end street located immediately behind Club 302. Oak Lane is also near New Marblehead Manor, the senior housing complex off Sandbar Road.
Town officials are already attempting to find a solution to mitigate the noise levels that Oak Lane residents have complained compete with their TVs and rob them of sleep on the weekends, according to Code Enforcement Officer Roger Timmons.
The town has hired self-employed noise level expert Steve Ambrose to do sound tests outside the walls of the establishment, Timmons said.
“We try to work out things with people. The court doesn’t want to see us. So, we always try to work something out,” Timmons said. “We won’t know until we do the tests” if Club 302 was exceeding the noise level limit of 60 decibels, which was set by the Board of Appeals.
According to testimony by Ambrose during the 2008 quarry application hearings, 60 decibels is equivalent to a normal conversation.
“If they find out it is above 60, they will tone it down. Another meter will be placed inside the building, so the owners will know how loud it is. For $60, the owners can buy a sound meter and program it to Steve Ambrose’s equipment,” Timmons
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said.
Greg Gallant, who owns the property abutting the new business, said he wasn’t trying to be a rabble-rouser by penning his long letter to town officials. In fact, he is happy something is being done to keep his neighborhood a little quieter.
“Last Saturday, it seemed to be fine. I don’t know what they did, but the noise levels were down, which proves it can be done,” Gallant said during a phone interview on Thursday.
Shelly Bickford, one of Club 302’s managers, said the most recent band wasn’t any louder or quieter than previous ones; and she isn’t sure why the noise was less of an issue. Maybe the heavy rains drowned out the sound of the band, she said.
Unfortunately, the downpour kept Ambrose from doing any sound tests on Saturday, she said. Ambrose had a lengthy meeting with Club 302 owners, but had to reschedule noise decibel tests since the rain jeopardizes the accuracy of his equipment, Bickford said.
Bickford said she and a co-owner were surprised that neighbors wrote letters, citing how the noise was interfering with their lives on the weekends.
“We have always been very aware of the noise levels because the gentleman (Gallant) who lives in back of us has told us it was his primary concern,” she said.
“Once an hour or every two hours, we send our security guys out back to see how loud the music sounds, and to make sure the doors are closed. None of our security people thought the noise was a concern. They walk all the way around the building. It is very difficult when you are listening with your ears, and not being on someone else’s property.”
“We’ve told the bands to turn down the volume. We’ve told them if it’s too loud, they won’t be asked to come back,” she said. “If they want to play
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here, they have to follow the rules.”
In May and June, the noise levels went up dramatically whenever an emergency exit door was pushed open. Calls to Windham Dispatch about noise levels resulted in a request for the door being closed – a solution which worked until someone propped the doors open again, according to Gallant.
“I’m really trying to get along with the owners of Club 302. My whole goal was to have a good-neighbor relationship,” said Gallant, who sat down with the owners at least five times before writing his letter to town officials. He stressed that there are ways to keep the noise contained; and that everyone seems to be working toward that goal.
Gallant, who purchased his property 10 years ago and whose house is about 85 feet from the back of Club 302, said the former cinema did not create a noise issue.
“It was very rare we could hear what was going on in the movie theater. Maybe, if it was a war movie, it might be audible for a while,” he said.
As the abutting neighbor to Club 302, Gallant was notified of Board of Appeals meetings. He said he spoke at those hearings.
After speaking with Club 302 owners several times, “it came down to approaching Roger (Timmons) and finding out who was going to enforce what was agreed to at Appeals Board meetings,” he said.
Currently, according to Timmons, the town has a noise standard in the special exception criteria of the land-use ordinances; and that’s what the Board of Appeals used to set a noise level limit of 60 decibels at the property line of Club 302.
In his letter, Gallant questioned the feasibility of establishing a noise ordinance in Windham.
According to Council Chairman Carol Waig, the difficult part of having a
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town-wide noise ordinance would be enforcing it.
“The Planning Board does a decent job with dealing with noise mitigation,” she said.
A second, shorter letter was signed by 14 residents of Oak Lane – also requesting the noise levels be monitored on nights Club 302 has live entertainment.
Margaret Doyon, who has lived on Oak Lane for 17 years, said she is concerned about the noises from Club 302 being more noticeable once the foliage is gone.
She said she doesn’t hear music from the bands because of her location on Oak Lane and her new windows. But, the sound from the parking lot does travel to her ears.
“Saturday was pretty bad with the motorcycles. Last weekend, I heard some girls yelling and screaming, ‘Leave me alone.’ They stopped, so someone must have called the police or something,” Doyon said. She said she hasn’t called dispatch yet, but would if things get too rowdy – especially since she lives alone.
“We’ve never had a problems until this appeared,” she said.
Having lived on Oak Lane for a decade, Carroll McDonald said the nighttime flow of people into the parking lot bothers him more than the music.
“I’m a little bit hearing challenged. So, I haven’t heard any bands. It’s a relatively quiet neighborhood. It does get a little bit out of hand. If people happen to be drinking, they act a little bit animal-like,” he said.
“You have residents right there, backed right up to this new bar,” McDonald said. “You can almost anticipate it being a conflict before the bar went in.”
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