Citizens living in the Downtown Mall district brought complaints to last Monday's City Council meeting regarding noise generated by events held in the City's newly opened amphitheater.
Hutto said that two shows in particular, the Spin Doctors concert Sept. 11 and Widespread Panic Sept. 20, have stimulated the most complaints. According to Hutto, the Downtown Pavilion has hosted 24 events since July 24.
"Adjacent neighborhoods have had issues with the noise levels," Hutto said.
Hutto said that despite all the complaints, he has kept in accordance with his City agreement.
"Our lease with the City Industrial Development Authority has limits both on noise limits and curfew times and we have never even come close to those," Hutto said. "There are limits that are legally binding that we have never exceeded."
Hutto said the issue is that the neighborhoods are not satisfied with the noise limits and official curfews that the City has given to the Pavilion.
Pavilion neighbor Galen Staengl, who lives at 129 Goodman Street, said that he has routinely had problems in falling asleep since the Pavilion opened.
"I have a young child that has also been bothered by the noise," Staengl said.
Staengl said he thinks the Pavilion could have been better planned to prevent noise problems.
"They could have done a better job with the sound issues and also the design aesthetics in general," Staengl said.
As a relatively new venue, Hutto said the Pavilion is still in the process of finding limits that are a compromise to everyone.
"At this point the Pavilion is still pretty new -- it's still a work in process," Hutto said. "Mainly what we're doing is gathering data at every show."
He said event planners will probably be working on the issue through next season.
Staengl said he is skeptical about noise improvements.
The City Council "is talking about it but it continues to be an issue so we'll see," Staengl said.
According to Hutto, neighbors will have the winter to recover from all the noise issues.
"We run through next week and then we're closed completely through the winter," Hutto said.
As popular as the Pavilion has been for concert-goers, neighbors say they reminisce the pre-Pavilion days.
"I think it's a real shame," Staengl said. "I think that I enjoyed the space much better when it was an open air amphitheater with trees and green space."
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