Local pastor Lyman Caldwell asked his congregation to help him pray for a solution to his unrest regarding some noisy neighbors at the conclusion of a recent sermon.
However that solution will have to await the findings of a committee formed in hopes of reaching compromise between constituents with noise complaints and representatives of local event venues who say it's just a part of doing business.
Tensions ran high during discussions of a proposed sound ordinance for the county at the Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, March 16.
The ordinance, if passed, would have regulated amplified noise, something Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard heavily advocates for.
“I think that the residents that live close to some location that’s having loud noises or amplified music, they want law enforcement to help them when they call us,” Jarrard said at the meeting. “I think that we should be able to help them with this. We should have a tool in our toolbox to be able to help with the situation. And if we used our common sense, I mean all we’re going to do is ask for them to quiet it down and if that doesn’t happen then we can go to the level of doing a citation. I’ve been trying to get that for the last year or two without us getting to the point we’re at today and it has not worked.”
However, officials at local event venues like Montaluce Winery and Restaurant worry that the ordinance will bring unintended harm to their industry. Local attorney Steve Leibel was in attendance speaking on Montaluce’s behalf.
“My concerns are, we’ve made commitments to be in business, $2 million in good faith for 2021 and 2022 with ties. This jeopardizes that,” said Matthew Garner, General Manager of Montaluce. “We made agreements in good faith with the laws that were in place. ...I’m sorry that it’s gotten to this point, but I would ask that we find a way that helps us to honor our commitments to be good community members.”
‘PEACE’ PLEASE
Caldwell, who lives near another venue, also attended the meeting and spoke in favor of the ordinance, asking the board to do something about the noise.
“I’m up here not trying to put anybody out of business, but we’re in a mess,” he said. "This weekend, if Mr. Leibel was in my house, he would’ve been up here trying to pass this ordinance, because it was so loud the house was vibrating. That’s all we’re asking is just please cut the music down...At nine o’clock at night if the house is vibrating, something’s got to be done. We’ve elected y’all to come up with something to give us some peace.”
Board Chairman Chris Dockery said he wishes the ordinance was not necessary and that the venues could self-police in an effort to be courteous neighbors.
“The industry has had ample opportunity to police themselves and I’ve had conversations with the industry and asked them to police themselves and Matthew Garner who is sitting here told me, face-to-face ‘Get me an ordinance, I need an ordinance to go by,’” Dockery said. “…We’d rather not have an ordinance. I believe we need less laws on the books, but when you take a business and you set it down in a residential area, it’s a situation that’s been allowed to be created. … The sheriff called me that night and I could hear the music on his phone and that’s an issue at midnight and it's an issue that needs to be addressed.”
CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS
Leibel spoke on the behalf of Montaluce, arguing that the proposed ordinance could not be enforced constitutionally.
““I respect the sheriff, but if he tries to enforce this ordinance, he won’t be able to be successful either because it’s too vague and it’s unconstitutional,” Leibel said. “…So why are we enacting things that won’t work? We might as well work with our people, give it a time table and let's come back, because I think that that’s what it’s about.”
Garner and Montaluce’s Director of Sales Shelby Everts both spoke at the meeting opposing the ordinance, saying it would interfere with the contracts the business already has in place for the next two years.
“My main concern is just the timing of it,” Everts said. “...I have 36 events just this year currently that are going to be affected by the 10 o’clock time restriction. Most of our events end at 11, some go to 11:30, but not much past that...I’ve been at Montaluce for four years now and I’ve never had a wedding go past midnight. Not once. So all I’m asking for is just consideration of time.”
Commissioner David Miller later moved to amend the ordinance back to midnight, but the ordinance was not passed.
Dockery spoke out against a sound ordinance that would be enacted at midnight.
“I am of the belief that if you’re going to amend the motion to allow music until midnight, you might as well not even have an ordinance, because it does absolutely nothing,” Dockery said. “I don’t think an ordinance that allows music to play until midnight is worth the paper that it is written on.”
Jarrard, who’s tried multiple times to get a sound ordinance on the books in order to help citizens calling to report nuisance noise, says he’s been having these conversations already.
“Mr. Garner, I know that I talked to you one time about it about a year or two back to try to prevent this from happening and it hasn’t worked, so there’s already been a one to two year notice,” Jarrard said. “...I can tell you when citizens that live around areas that have problems, they expect me to do something. They think I’m neglecting my duties by not doing it. I’m just asking for help, that’s all I’m asking for.”
Commissioner Rhett Stringer argued that if the focus is on what time to turn the music down, then the point is being missed.
“That’s the part I think that we’ve missed in this whole thing is if it’s not loud, I don’t care if you do it until three o’clock in the morning, I just don’t want to hear it,” he said.
Commissioner Bobby Mayfield said he doesn’t believe an ordinance would decimate the entire winery and wedding industry in Lumpkin County.
“This is consistent, this is pervasive and I think one of my responsibilities as a commissioner is to help my citizens and if all the wineries in Lumpkin County just up and leave tomorrow because we do something with this ordinance, I just find that hard to believe,” he said.
A CLOSER LOOK
After around 50 minutes of discussion and debate during the agenda specific public comment portion of the meeting, the board was at a stalemate. With neither side satisfied, the board chose to form a committee to look at resolving the issue.
“I would be in favor in putting together a committee, not because Steve Leibel recommended it, even though it was a good idea, but I think that might be a good solution if you think that we could get the people in the room and we could have some progressive conversation to move forward,” Dockery said. “...I think voluntary compliance will certainly be better than to create an ordinance if that’s possible. If not, I certainly think that we need to consider proceeding with an ordinance.”
The board appointed Commissioner Jeff Moran to chair a committee charged to find this solution. Other committee members appointed included Caldwell, Jarrard, Garner, Lumpkin County Planning Director Bruce Georgia and Commissioner Bobby Mayfield.
Carl Boegner of Wolf Mountain and Blair Housley of Etowah Meadery were not present at the meeting, but were asked to serve on the committee as well.
Dockery put a timetable in place for 30 days for the committee to meet and attempt to solve the issues.
“I think 30 days, if you can’t resolve it in 30 days chances are you’re not going to resolve it anyway,” he said. “I would like to bring it back up for a vote next month. I’m not willing to wait any further and if it comes to a 2-2 vote I think you know how I plan to vote.”