Marty Gordon
Contributing writer
The three-year battle with Christiansburg’s noise ordinance took another step Tuesday night with the approval of two conditional use permits for Fat Back Soul Shack and Due South BBQ.
Billy’s Little River Stage at Fat Back Soul Shack in Christiansburg has been the home of many outdoor concerts this summer, and after the town unanimously approved the restaurant’s conditional use permit at Tuesday’s town council meeting, that is likely to continue.
These are the second and third exceptions approved through the town’s newly defined noise ordinance. Last month, town council approved a similar conditional use permit for the Starlite Drive-In.
Marie March of Black Bear Properties is the owner of the two restaurants. While she received some reprieve from the new ordinances maximum decibel levels, March expressed concern that more restrictive standards having been forced upon her and other businesses.
“Sorry that I’m not thrilled about any of this. Kindly remember, our rights, as business owners, were stripped away from us,” she said.
The conditional use permits were approved by a 6-0 vote, following a unanimous recommendation from the town’s planning commission with three parameters.
The three conditions were: 1) The maximum measurements shall be 70dB(A) and 75dB(C) from a nearby residential property on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights until midnight; 2) The noise ordinance standards shall not apply to any receiving property of loud speaker, sound amplification and outdoor sound system noise for business or industrial uses within industrial or business zoning districts (B-1, B-2, B-3, I-1 or I-2 zoning districts); and 3) The permit shall be subject to review by the planning commission in one year.
In addition, enforcement will only be made when there is a complaint-based call.
Mayor Michael Barber was happy the way the requests were handled by the town’s planning commission.
“I would like to thank the planning department, Police Chief Mark Sisson and the planning commission for their hard work and input. The 6-0 vote by council proves our support for the planning commission,” he said.
March has been very vocal that the new noise ordinance should have never happened.
“The town should have stood by its businesses over a year ago and told the small handful of complainers that their decision to locate behind an existing business was their choice, and the rights of the existing businesses should have been upheld,” she said. “Now, through the CUP process, the town council has created variable standards within the town, surely to create confusion among citizens and law enforcement. Additionally, even though we now have a CUP to operate our events, many other businesses and/or churches can still be issued citations.”
Both Fat Back and Due South have held indoor music events for several years since they opened. An outdoor stage at Fat Back was built last year and the business started holding outdoor concerts.
After one noise complaint was made to the town’s police department, March joined the fight along with the Starlite. Over the past year, several large groups of individuals addressed council in support of the outdoor venues.
The process was long and cumbersome, according to March.
“If government is going to impose regulations and impact people’s lives, they need to move much more expeditiously. It was very disruptive,” she said.
She continued to say her businesses will now utilize the CUP that will now force musicians in the New River Valley to have to comply with more government regulations.
“I think the levels allowed will be appropriate and don’t foresee additional issues, my fingers are crossed.”
March disagrees that the town ever needed to change the existing noise ordinance, and said that it did so to wield power and control over the small businesses.
The time line was put into motion after the Starlite owner stood in front of a Montgomery County judge who threw the noise violation out of court and told the town they might want to re-define their ordinance so it could be enforced.
Under the town’s new noise ordinance, the outdoor sound limit would max out at 57 decibels during the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. From 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., the limit would decrease to 52 decibels.
In a past statement, the town reiterated they were not singling out any particular business with the proposed changes, but instead were attempting to make it easier for businesses and the town to reach agreed-upon parameters when it comes to noise.
Town spokesperson Melissa Demmitt said, “We have a duty as a town to protect our residents’ property rights and quality of life, but at the same time, we want to encourage entertainment options and help our businesses succeed. It’s a balancing act, and we’re doing our best to find a workable solution.”
After the initial ordinance was approved by council, they announced the opportunity for those businesses that exceeded the new max an exception via the CUPs, which would allow them to exceed the top decibel limit.
So, far, only the Starlite, and March’s two businesses have applied for the CUPs.
Fat Backs has held several outdoor concerts in its parking lot over the past two months with great public support. Town staff did check decibel readings twice during the month of June and found they did not exceed the maximum.
“We have a packed house every weekend, folks are happily supporting the local music scene. We have gotten even busier after voicing our issues with local government,” March said.
