BAY MINETTE, Ala. — During what may be a precedent-setting meeting, members of the Hickory Street neighborhood in Bay Minette met with the owner and manager of The Host, a local club, to discuss what has become a battle over noise levels and to test the effectiveness of Bay Minette Mayor Jamie Tillery’s Community Conflict Resolution Process.

The Issue

The issue began immediately after the Host, a club located on U.S. Highway 31 North, opened Aug. 28.

Residents from Hickory and neighboring streets said the music coming from the bar was so loud they could hear it in their homes with their doors  and window closed.

The Bay Minette Police Department began getting calls and sending officers out to the club to have the music turned down.

“Since August we have had more than 70 calls to the club regarding the noise level,” Police Chief Michael Rowland said.

He said he has sent his officers out with noise meters to get an accurate reading of how loud the music was and has stationed officers across the street to merely sit and listen.

Residents from that neighborhood have approached their council representative, District 5 Councilman Chris Norman, and the council as a whole, asking for help in this issue.

On the other side, Rowland said owner Eddie Emmons has done everything he has been asked to do to keep the noise level down.

The issue had come to an impasse and was keeping officers busy on weekend nights.

Because the owner and residents could not work things out on their own, Norman and Bay Minette Mayor Jamie Tillery set up a meeting between the two factions at the North Baldwin Utilties boardroom and put them in front of a mediator.

The Arguements

After welcoming everyone to the first municipal mediation, Tillery informed those gathered that the council members, all of whom were present except Danleigh Corbett, were merely there as observers.

Tommy Langham, who served as city clerk for 24 years, sat in as mediator. He said he was there not to decide any issue for the parties but to attempt to facilitate the voluntary resolution of the dispute by the parties.

Emmons spoke first addressing the residents, noting that he has tried to work with them and the police to resolve the issue of noise coming from his club.

“I have done everything humanly possible to keep the noise level down,” Emmons said. “I have put sound boards in and I have had people come out and improve the insulation. But, now it is ticket-writing time and I’ve gotten several citations. It has literally ruined my business,” he said.

Emmons said officers have been called out to the bar due to noice even when a band is not playing.

“I can’t get my door open before they’re calling,” he said. “I’m here to work with everyone, but I have a business to run, too.”

Of the 10 homeowners that spoke, all said the same thing — the noise is the issue.

“My complaint is your noise,” said Joe Parker, a Hickory Street resident. “If I can hear it in my house above my TV, that is too loud, bottom line.”

Carrie Harris, a Hickory Street homeowner, said she just wants to be able to get some rest.

“I never asked Mr. Emmons to close down,” Harris said. “But, the lack of sleep is an issue. We were in the neighborhood first.”

Harris said in a later comment she was considering selling her house if things could not be resolved. “We are being forced out of our house, it is not going to stop until one of us gives up,” she said.

Susan Martin agreed that lack of sleep brought on by the noise level is a big issue.

“I have small children getting woke up in the middle of the night,”  she said. “We want our rest back, we want our peace back.”

Kevin Foley and neighbor Amanda Self both suffer from unrelated hearing loss and say they can still hear the noise.

“I am 10 percent disabled through my hearing,” Foley said. “I can sit in my house and hear it. It is loud and annoying.”

Self could not be at the meeting in person, but sent a letter to the meeting via Tillery and City Hall.

“I was upset when I learned a bar would be locating in our neighborhood,” Self said. “But it has not been as bad as I expected — with the exception of the noise.

“I can be in my house, seven houses down from the bar, with the TV on and still hear the lyrics of the songs being sung at the bar. For me to be able to hear it, the sound must be immense.”

Responding to complaints

“I appreciate everyone coming out,” Rowland told those gathered. “We are here tonight to try and come up with a game plan that will minimize problems with the citizen and business owners.”

Rowland said while the residents may not realize it, his officers have been doing what is expected of them.

“I know you feel like  your complaints have been unheard,” he said. “But, they’ve been heard loud and clear over and over and over.

Rowland said since the bar opened Aug. 28, the department has received 70 complaints and written 14 citations. He said the police deparmtnet is enforcing the ordinance, but the ordinance does not specify a noise threshold.

“What we want to do is try to come to terms the community can live with and the business owner as well.”

Impasse?

Rowland said the issue has become frustrating because no matter what the police or business owner do or say, the calls keep coming in.

“I don’t know what he could do to help keep the noise level down,” Rowland said. “He is complied with a lot of the suggestions we’ve given him. He’s had the building inspector and the fire chief out there to inspect everything. He has had construction done and yet no matter what he did, the calls did not seem to dissipate.”

He said he wasn’t sure if the issue would get resolved, because it appeared some  didn’t really want the issue resolved.

“We compared the noise coming out of the bar with the noise of everything passing by and the freight trains going by at 3 in the morning,” Rowland said.

He said the noise from the bar was not close to what was put out by the trains or bypassing cars.

“Some of you have even said no matter what the noise level was you were going to complain, and that is your right,” he said, but warned those gathered that attitude could backfire on them.

“Mr. Emmons has the same rights that you do,” he said. He explained that if calls continued to come in that could not be substantiated, eventually Emmons could obtain a copy of the police report, get the information on the person or people making the complaints and file a harassment warrant.

According to Rowland 50 of the 70 calls the police department has received have resulted in no action being taken because the officer did not think the noise was unreasonable or they didn’t hear anything at all.

Rowland said the volume of calls prompted him to devise a plan that would allow the residents to follow up on their own report.

“What I have asked officers to do is use their own judgement,” Rowland said. “If he believes it is unreasonably loud, then he will write a citation. If he does not think it is unreasonable, then he will do what we would do in any other case, such as assault, disorderly conduct and more. The officer will write an incident/offense report and you can take the report to the magistrate and swear out a warrant on him and take the issue to court,” Rowland said.

Though no decisions were made and no actions taken, Tillery and Rowland deemed the meeting a success.