It’s nighttime porch-sitting weather again and pandemic restrictions are waning.
The result: Live outdoor music is coming back in a big way in Brown County.
Three owners and a vice president of Hard Truth Hills approached the Nashville Town Council on May 20 to ask for modifications to to be made the town’s noise ordinance or a new ordinance to be written, taking into consideration the impact that live music has on Nashville’s and Brown County’s culture and visitor draw.
The council took no action yet, but plans to take another look at the rules soon.
The ordinance has been in place since the fall of 2012, back before the 300-plus-acre Hard Truth Hills complex existed, when the company’s only outdoor performances took place in the downtown Nashville alleys near Big Woods Pizza, or on the porch of the original Big Woods restaurant behind it. Those restaurants were the first downtown to have seating and regular musical performances outside; now at least five restaurants regularly host bands on their patios.
The current ordinance and process were written and led by a group of town and county residents concerned about noise in general — not just music and events, but motorcycles, too. The resulting rules lumped all types of noise together regardless if it came from an animal, a machine or a person strumming a six-string.
The county, outside Nashville, has no noise ordinance.
The town has had some form of noise ordinance on the books since the 1970s, but the current one prohibits any noise from traveling 25 feet from the property line where it’s originating. It does not include any measures of decibels because, at the time, town police officers did not have a way to measure them.
Now, cellphone apps can do that. Town council member Nancy Crocker said she’d been at Hard Truth Hills recently when a band was playing on the patio and the music didn’t register over 90 decibels on her phone.
At the May 20 meeting, the Hard Truth Hills reps asked for the town to permit outdoor music performances until 10 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays as long as the music does not exceed 85 decibels.
“I think we all know how important music and entertainment is in this community. The local community made a huge investment in the Brown County Music Center, and because of that music center we’re now becoming nationally known as an entertainment destination,” said Chris Curtin, vice president of restaurant operations and a Brown County native.
“And it doesn’t necessarily have to be music either,” he added. “Entertainment can be hiking or biking in the state park, Yellowwood State Forest, the shops in town, the music center, Hard Truth Distilling Co. and its 325 acres, Bear Wallow Distillery and everything else everybody else has to offer.
“I know other businesses in town also want to have live music and they are currently having live music. It’s a really important piece to the community.”
The last time Curtin visited a town council meeting was in the fall of 2019, when Hard Truth Hills neighbors asked for the noise ordinance to be enforced. Four people complained about vibrations, singing and instruments keeping them up or disturbing their own peace on their porches or inside their homes.
After that meeting, the owners of Hard Truth Hills committed to investing in sound control measures, which they did, Curtin explained. Last year, they spent about $18,000 on a new sound system with 25 focused speakers and a mobile mixer board on an iPad, and $5,000 on sound dampening materials for the outdoor stage.
They’re in the middle of doing more work now, which may have led to recent noise complaints, Curtin said. The stage that had been downhill from the dining porch and patio was taken down so it can be rebuilt in a different place. So, in mid-May, bands were instead playing in a temporary spot near the metal-clad building. The regular sound system also wasn’t in use.
By July 4, the plan is to have the new stage built about 100 feet lower on the hillside than it was, and angled more toward the wooded interior of the property. They also plan to add more speakers — “and I know, more speakers sounds like it’s going to be louder, but that’s not actually the case,” Curtin said. That will allow them to disperse music around the property rather than just playing it loud to reach everybody, he said.
The new stage will have more sound-dampening material, including spray foam under it and panels around it. Landscaping will be designed to help cut sound to the Greasy Creek neighborhood behind it, Curtin said.
“So, we really feel like we have the solution there. But I think it’s a greater problem with the community, right, that we live in, and it’s kind of this battle,” he said, describing the push-pull between residents and visitors, the permanent community and the tourism community.
“I was born and raised here and went to college in southern Indiana, and I moved back here because I loved it, right? And all I wanted to do in high school was get away,” he said. “But it really is a great place. And we’re always going to … be at odds at certain points, but I think if everyone works together to try to make things work, I really think we can reach a resolution.”
Town council members spent at least 40 minutes talking at the May 20 meeting about how they could modify the rules or interpret them differently to allow Hard Truth Hills to do what it wants to do — and other businesses too, if they wish. The current ordinance does allow for a special event permit, which can carry different rules than those stated in the ordinance. But there’s a limit on how many of those a business can get.
A violation only occurs if a person makes a complaint to police, then police go tell the business or person to stop making the noise or dial it down, and the business or person refuses, explained Town Attorney James T. Roberts.
In response to a question, council President Jane Gore said that Hard Truth Hills is not in violation now.
At least three council members said the ordinance needs to be updated. Of the five council members serving when the ordinance was passed, only Gore is still in office.
“I can understand their problem,” council member Dave Rudd said. “… I’m sorry, you can hear any music 25 feet away, especially when you walk down the streets of Nashville. I mean, it’s ridiculous.”
Roberts had suggested a different ordinance back in 2012 that differentiated music from other kinds of sound and set out different rules, but it didn’t advance. The council’s strategic direction adviser, Dax Norton, told the council that Roberts’ thoughts back then were “dead on and really good.”
Gore asked Roberts to bring a draft ordinance back to the council to look at.
Crocker and Chief of Police Ben Seastrom asked if the council was going to suspend the ordinance until the council could come up with something else. Gore eventually said no; police should still enforce it, with the cutoff time of 10 p.m. which Hard Truth Hills had self-imposed months ago.
“I should point out that we are making compromises,” said Hard Truth Hills CEO Ed Ryan. “There’s not a night we wouldn’t want to keep playing after 10. People are disappointed we are stopping. We would like for the music to be a little loud. But we think it’s a fair compromise.”
