Marty Gordon
Contributing writer
A local drive-in theater will open next week without any solution in the ongoing disagreement with Christiansburg officials on how they view “excessive” noise.
Owners of the Starlite admit they know their levels have exceeded what the town sees as maximum, but they don’t know what else to do.
Peggy Beasley said customers last season complained and left after they could not hear the movie. At the heart of the problem, which started two years ago, was Beasley’s effort to provide some type of upgrade to her sound system.
“We were having problems keeping the old car speakers up and running, and people were even stealing them so we switched to the FM transmitter and outdoor speakers,” she said.
The volume level, according to Beasley, was simply not loud enough for moviegoers. She estimated that her 2017 business was cut in half because of the ongoing problems.
The FM transmission can be heard through a person’s car radio, but that created a secondary problem of people running their vehicle’s battery down. Thus, the Starlite tried to compensate that low volume by adding the outdoor speakers, which have been moved several times within the confines of the drive-in.
The business faced complaints from nearby homes that the sound was causing windows to shake and disturbing residents as they sat in their living room. Police cited the Starlite for a noise violation, and the matter was taken to court where a judge told the town to reexamine its current ordinance and see if they could define the “violation” in a better way.
The town then assembled the new ordinance. Over the past three months, both town council and planning commission have heard residents on both sides of the argument, and Beasley had hoped a vote on Tuesday night would give her some idea of what she was working with for the upcoming “movie season.” But council did not vote on the matter. Instead pushing back any possible vote to the earliest April 24- five days after the theatre’s 2018 opening.
But the decision could be delayed longer as several council members requested they hear from a sound expert at Virginia Tech on the exact decibel level of other items commonly heard in the every day environment.
Beasley admitted on Wednesday she was disappointed no vote took place. Over the past few months, the Starlite owner has stepped up and offered several olive branches. “I never wanted it to seem like we were in a civil war with the town. I want to work something out so I can have a business,” she said.
The Starlite is proposing not using the outdoor speakers for second showings on the weekends.
“On Thursday and Sunday, the Starlite will reduce to one movie using just the FM transmitter,” Beasley said.
“Being an outdoor movie theater by its very nature has created the dilemma for the right to conduct our business and serving patrons, while also trying to be good neighbors for many more years to come,” she said.
If council is not satisfied with a discussion in a work session before the April 24 meeting, then a vote could be delayed to May.
Melissa Demmitt, the town’s public information officer said the existing ordinance is in effect until a new ordinance is passed, and the town will continue to operate on a complaint basis.
If the proposed ordinance is approved April 24, the town would immediately begin accepting conditional use permit applications.
Beasley plans to apply for the CUP if the new ordinance is approved. Of course, there is no guarantee it will be approved. So far, council members have not shown their hand on how they feel about the changes.
Tuesday night, Councilman Brad Stipes said he needed to hear more information before voting on the matter. Mayor Michael Barber prodded the group to take a vote, but no motion was made so it stalled out for at least now.
The definitions for noise, plainly audible and sound are now spelled out and defined in the new ordinance. Based on feedback during community meetings, the part on A-weighted decibel and C-weighted decibel limits were also added. Each of those are based on the day of the week, time of day and the zoning district of the property where the sound is received.
The outdoor sound limit would be 57 decibels during the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. and at night from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., the limit would decrease to 52 decibels. The exceptions to allow for higher noise would be in Business B-1, B-2 and B-3, which would be 65 decibels. Those readings would be taken from the property where the complaint came from.
In the past, no readings were ever made on the sound coming from the Starlite so it’s not known what the decibel reading at the time of those complaints.
Under the new ordinance, the violation would change from criminal to a civil one. A process would also be added to allow a person who is issued a ticket to waive the trial and pay the fine.
But this is where the conditional use permit (CUP) comes into play, which allows for the reasonable use of property, which may exceed the noise ordinance on a recurrent basis.
Christiansburg Planning Director Andrew Warren said in the case of the Starlite, they could fall under the CUP.
A similar noise ordinance in neighboring Blacksburg says the sound cannot be plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet or more from its source.
