How loud is too loud? Discussions continue about event venue rules in Madison County
MARSHALL - In its March 21 meeting, the Madison County Planning Board once again tabled a vote on a sketch plan review for a 19-lot subdivision, Grandview West, to be located along nearly 35 acres on Grandview Road, after the developer did not appear for the meeting.
But the board got a lot of other work done in the meeting, as it heard feedback from numerous event venue owners, neighbors and other residents about the board's potential recommendations to the Madison County Board of Commissioners on its updated Land Use Ordinance.
While the board did not take any action on the proposed changes to the noise ordinance, it will meet April 18, 10 days in advance of the expiration date of the county's event venue moratorium that was extended Dec. 28 after a six-month moratorium on event venues was instated due to numerous noise complaints from residents near Marshall and Hot Springs event venues.
"The only issues that we are trying to address is that the Board (of Commissioners) wanted to get (these additions approved) before the moratorium expires at the end of April," Development Services Director Brad Guth said in the board's March 7 meeting, in which a draft Land Use Ordinance was presented to the board.
In the draft, a "facility" is defined as "a structure or place which is built, installed or established to serve a particular purpose."
"The purpose of this section is to establish a set of regulations applicable to special events facilities," Guth read from the draft. "These regulations are in addition to all other provisions of this ordinance. In adopting these standards, Madison County finds that special event facilities have the potential to be incompatible with surrounding residential uses thereby having the potential for a deleterious effect on adjacent residents.
"Special regulations for special event facilities are necessary to ensure they will be compatible with surrounding residential uses and will not act to harm or alter the neighborhoods they are located in."
The draft also adds language to Section 8.10.2, relating to permits.
"Any person, firm or corporation wanting to construct or expand a Special Event Facility shall first submit an application and site development plan to the Madison County Zoning Office," the draft reads.
After the application is complete, the zoning office will then forward the application to the Madison County Board of Adjustment for a special use hearing,
Section 8.10.3 of the draft deals with the requirements for special event facilities applications and site development plans.
There are 14 requirements for the special events facilities applications. They include:
A narrative describing the proposed special event facility, including an overview of the project with specific hours of operation and the expected noise impact (including volume.
A site plan showing the proposed location, height and dimensions of all structures, and the location of any residence within 100 yards of the property line of the lot.
Elevation drawings of the proposed buildings and material list to show the structural details of the building.
Landscaping buffers, as the facility and area associated with the use shall be screened from adjoining properties by a buffer strip.
Use separation, as all equipment, structures and parking shall be a minimum of 30 feet from all property lines and 100 feet from any occupied residential structure on adjacent properties.
The total floor area of any special event facility used as a building in a residential zone shall contain no more than 7,500 square feet of gross floor area. Also, there shall be no more than one special event facility structure per 5 acres on residentially zoned properties.
All special events facilities shall adhere to the Madison County Noise Ordinance, adopted in 2003.
The facility shall meet all state building and environmental health codes for sewage disposal and water supply.
Facilities shall comply with the Land Use Ordinance parking requirements.
No fireworks are permitted.
All facilities shall designate a local contact person who shall provide their contact information, including email and phone number for business and emergency contact.
The draft ordinance arises from the work of a focus group formed in July 2022 composed of Guth, Noor, former Zoning Administrator Terrey Dolan and former Commissioner Craig Goforth, as well as current BOC Vice Chair Michael Garrison.
During the Planning Board's March 21 meeting, the board said they disagreed with certain aspects of the ordinance and decided not to recommend the draft ordinance to the commissioners, citing the Planning Board members' and existing event venue owners' lack of involvement in the drafting process.
In a motion proffered by Chair Jered Silver, the board unanimously agreed to not recommend the draft ordinance and instead will relay to the commissioners feedback articulated throughout the March 21 meeting.
Feedback on draft ordinance
Ken Kashuba co-owns Mountainside Cabins in Hot Springs. Kashuba said he felt more venue owners should have been included in the draft process.
"The only problem I have is the commissioners said the work group would contain venues and those impacted, but based on what I'm hearing, nobody has been included in this," Kashuba said. "So, I don't think you should proceed with approving this until we get more input from the venues who would be impacted."
Kim Bellofatto is event coordinator for Stony Woods Estate in Marshall, which has been in business since 2019.
Bellofatto said she thinks members of the Planning Board and business owners should have been involved with the draft process.
"I feel a little bit like the current policy was written to deal with two or three outliers in our industry," Bellofatto said. "They have had issues and disputes with their neighbors on a fairly regular basis. I feel like what's happening is an effort to close the loopholes related to them, but that has implications for the rest of us.
"The proposed land use ordinance, in a lot of ways, feels like it's kind of an overreaction to a noise problem, which could be addressed simply with the noise ordinance, using a progressive fine schedule for the violations. As the work group met to discuss the draft for this and the noise ordinance, it would have been a good idea to invite members of the business community that work in the event business to just be a direct source of information for you. Nobody knows our business better than we do, and honestly we could probably think of some scenarios you haven't considered."
Bellofatto and other residents expressed their concerns about what she and some other residents called the "two strike policy," which refers to the draft ordinance's policy that stipulates if a special event facility is cited for violating the noise ordinance more than once within a six-month period, the special use permit will be terminated and the use will be discontinued.
"This means if I have a single noise violation in month one, and somebody parks my car within 30 feet of a neighbor, I've got a second violation and I could lose my permit for that. It feels like there's not a lot of middle ground right there, which doesn't leave you or the Board of Adjustment, if they're handling appeals, any discretion to make a determination about the permit."
Tori Lewis owns Delaney Ridge, a Mars Hill event venue that specializes in weddings.
"I'm a little bit intimidated by this in the fact that we have poured so much into this business ... and it could get taken away if it's a two-strike rule and we're out," Lewis said. "We purchased and built this with the assumption that we were going to be in compliance with the zoning laws. Part of our mission statement is to create spaces for people to gather and celebrate life and each other. That's what we want to do. We don't want to be a hindrance to the public. We want to be able to serve it."
Silver asked Lewis if she had received any complaints from neighbors, and Lewis said she hadn't.
"We've got great relationships with our neighbors," Lewis said. "All of them are really good neighbors. We have a live and let live policy on our road."
Chris Nelson is one of the owners of Hot Springs event venue Paint Rock Farm. As other residents have cautioned, and members of the event venue/noise ordinance work group have said in commissioners' meetings, policing noise through decibel readings can present challenges.
"If you're living out here, you don't want the same noise as Asheville," Nelson said. "Last year, I took decibel readings at a neighbor's property while a DJ was playing. I took readings while the DJ wasn't playing, and it was at 60 decibels with the ambient sound of the crickets. Then, I could hear the music start and it still did not go above 60 decibels. You could differentiate the msuic from the crickets, but it wasn't louder than the crickets.
"So, my concern is this: If you violate the noise ordinance twice. Who is this person that is going to determine what's too loud and what's not? The sound ordinance (was written) in 2003, and doesn't even have a single objective criteria that we can comply with. How do I know who is going to show up and say, '60 (decibels) is too high?"
Another of the main issues raised by board members and event venue owners was the issue of fines to venue owners violating the ordinance.
Some board members, like Sue Keener, advocated for increased fines per noise violation. But other residents felt venue owners hosting larger events would be able to absorb the fines as "a cost of doing business" and would not fall into compliance.
In the Madison County Board of Commissioners' March 14 meeting, Vice Chair Michael Garrison, who served on the work group, said the noise ordinance and land use ordinance will work together.
"The objective here was for existing businesses to continue to operate, and at the same time to come into compliance with standards that would be applicable to all special event venues," Garrison said. "Also, one of the things that's important is this noise seems to be the driving factor for some of these complaints. Without this ordinance being applicable to existing event venues, then they just simply add whatever we charge to a noise ordinance violation, they'll simply add that to the cost of doing business and then pass it on to the consumer.
"So, if we charge $1,000, they just charge $1,000 extra to cover the cost of paying the noise ordinance violation. (Redrafting the ordinances) at least puts a little bit more teeth into special event venues to ensure that they're being in compliance.
"What we're doing is taking the feedback you're giving, bulletpointing it, and will provide it to the commissioners as part of how this moves forward," board attorney John Noor said. "So, it's good to hear general comments, but it's also good to hear, 'Well, I don't think it should be twice. I think you should get four times (before a permit is revoked). If there are other specific things that you feel would benefit the ordinance, that type of feedback is useful as well."
In the Madison County Planning Board's next meeting, April 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Madison County Public Library's Marshall branch, 1335 N. Main St., the board will vote on a preliminary plat approval of the Grandview West project.
The Madison County Board of Commissioners will meet April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Madison County Cooperative Extension, 243 Caroline Lane in Marshall.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: With Madison event venue ban set to expire, residents weigh in
