Outdoor music started up again this past weekend at Hard Truth Hills.
Neighbors, if you didn’t know that until reading this, that’s a good thing.
During the COVID shutdown, a first round of soundproofing measures was installed around the outdoor stage at the restaurant and distillery. Missy Koonce, the new public events producer for the company, explained the work at the May 28 Nashville Town Council meeting — a surprise addition to the agenda.
Music drift, in possible violation of the town’s noise ordinance, had been brought to the council’s attention last fall. Neighbors living on Greasy Creek Road, behind the stage, complained of noise from live bands disrupting their sleep or the peace at their homes.
Koonce, who was hired in April, said that so far, the venue has added industrial soundproofing panels behind the stage when it used to be open-air. Panels also have been added on the side of the stage closest to that neighborhood, and under the slatted stage floor. As of May 28, HTH had invested $2,200 in materials and labor with plans to do more, Koonce said.
She plans to be at the venue every Friday and Saturday night, “dialing in that sound and making sure we’re keeping those levels within acceptable parameters” and at “a reasonable neighborly level” — something that had not been done before, she said.
Sound control measures in later stages of their three-stage plan include adding more sound baffling and dampening measures, installing an outdoor sound system with multiple smaller speakers that can go up closer toward patrons for more sound control instead of using a big two-speaker system, and having a “sound man” on site with the ability to control the entire system instead of individual musicians having that control.
Brandon Harris, one of the neighbors who spoke at the meeting last fall on this topic, said he was happy to hear about the measures HTH was taking. He said that concerts ending after 10 p.m. were another one of his concerns, and Koonce said that she’d definitely make sure concerts would end by that time.
Council member Anna Hofstetter asked what “reasonable” and “acceptable” meant and if the venue had any tool to measure sound levels, like a decibel meter. Koonce said that a piece of equipment was on order and should be here by this week.
Hofstetter had asked several months ago if the noise ordinance could be given another look or redone because she felt it was vague. She asked the same at this meeting.
Town Attorney James T. Roberts told her he had no reason to believe the ordinance was unenforceable as it is. Like many land-use ordinances, it’s complaint-driven, he said.
In order for action to be taken, people who have complaints must report them to the Nashville police and leave their name, address and phone number. If the source of that noise continues after the maker is told by police to stop or turn it down, a violation may occur. Fines start at $50.
The current noise ordinance — for town only, not for the county at large — was passed in the fall of 2012 after a group of residents approached the council initially about motorcycle noise. The council gave them the responsibility of coming up with an ordinance — a process which took the better part of a year. However, a noise ordinance in some form had been on the books for Nashville since the 1970s.
The council told Hofstetter she could get a committee together if she wanted to take another look at the ordinance.
