Minutes 09-11-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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7 inspections for a venue with hundreds of people. She said this leniency would never be allowed in the Town of Chapel Hill or Carrboro. Greg Rapp said the role of enforcement regarding the zoning regulations is baffling to him. He said The Barn has had numerous events with too many people, and concerns of the neighbors being brought to Orange County staff seems to have resulted in little to no change. Amanda Ekholm read the following comments to the BOCC: My family is one of the closest houses to The Barn of Chapel Hill. We are heavily impacted by sound from the late night events. We have reported noise disturbances multiple times to the Sheriff's office. Often, the police go to the event center first, ask them to turn down the music, and then come to our house and measure sound. Many times it is long after we have called. Last night, Sunday 9/10, the police were called as music blared across the street to our house. We heard every word to songs like "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks and the YMCA as my children were being tucked into bed. When police arrived, there was no sound recording taken at all, even though the yelling continued past 9:00 p.m. Lights were still on and talking was heard until almost 10:00 p.m. What we are finding is a pattern of loud, disturbing noise blaring at our house during these events, but no plan for police to track this pattern. There are isolated reports filed, but no cumulative way that they are collecting information, so this pattern can be tracked and handled more efficiently. We are left with the task of calling, reporting, but nothing carries over to the next offense. There is no consistent way of measuring noise, and then connecting that disturbance to following disturbances. We would like to request that a procedure is put in place to handle this noise impact in a more consistent and helpful way. When we call the police, we would like them to bring a modern sound recording device to measure sound before asking them to turn down the music so real impact to our family and surrounding neighbors can be documented. We would like to request that the procedure allows police to collect and document a pattern of numerous disturbances so that further action can be taken. We would like to request that there is action taken against the party barn when families are negatively impacted in this way weekend after weekend. Right now it is poorly documented and without consequence to the party barn. The consequence is our families, our neighbors, and ours. We are up late, bothered at home with loud noise, and talking to police weekend after weekend. We feel this can be handled more fairly and effectively. Tom Schopler said he is a resident of southwestern Orange County, and said the Board needs to look at commercial entities coming in and using the agritourism loophole to further their business. He said he would like to know how the permits are regulated and monitored. He said the Board of County Commissioners should remove weddings from the definition of rural special events, which may address a lot of the issues concerning the community. Richard Lawrence thanked the BOCC for listening, and asked the BOCC to consider how other counties handle these issues. He reviewed the following information: Subject: Ongoing Party Farm Problem