A Library’s Noise Has the Neighbors Complaining
Stillwater (Minn.) Public Library’s new outdoor terrace, a popular venue for weddings and other events since it was added as part of an expansion and renovation in 2006, is drawing concern from neighbors over the potential for noise late at night.
About a dozen residents attended the city council meeting May 6 to protest the council’s prior granting of a blanket variance to the noise ordinance for the library events this summer, extending the noise curfew for them from 10 to 11:30 p.m., the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported May 7. At the May 6 meeting, the council voted to amend its action and only honor the variance for the 13 events already booked. However, the residents were not satisfied.
”The neighborhood is absolutely opposed to this,” said Jerry Helmberger, who operates a bed and breakfast next door to SPL, according to the Tribune. “Since the library [expansion] opened, the burden to this neighborhood has done nothing but increase.”
SPL Director Lynn Bertalmio told American Libraries that the library planned to experiment with the positioning of the music to direct sound away from residential areas. “That’s what they’re really afraid of, the amplified music,” she said, adding that residents also complained about a delivery that the library receives around midnight every night.
Revenue from rentals of the terrace and community rooms is built into the library’s business model. The library has budgeted $30,000 in rental revenue from the terrace this year. Bertalmio acknowledged that if the noise redirection efforts don’t work, the city may not grant variances in the future, but that the library would likely still remain a popular venue due to its panoramic view of the St. Croix River. “It’s such a stunning site that I think there will be a number of parties” that choose the library terrace anyway, she said, noting that interest in the venue had spiked since local newspaper coverage about the noise concerns began.
Posted on May 9, 2008. Discuss.