- Charlottesville's live music venues, such as the Tea Bazaar on the Downtown Mall, will be saved from the expensive Council fee. Photo courtesy Tea Bazaar
Previously, all local restaurants and venues were required to purchase permits for $1,500 to have concerts with live, amplified music. Local musicians were not allowed to play if they could be heard from 125 feet away with background noise or if their music measured at 75 decibels from 10 or more feet away. This zoning code was passed in 2003 but went unenforced until recent events reignited the issue.
When Belmont, a neighborhood in southeast Charlottesville, passed a noise ordinance in 2010, the debate on music regulation led officials in Charlottesville to pursue the law. Concerned members of the Charlottesville community met with City Planner Jim Tolbert in February.
After months of negotiation, Council approved a zoning change and an amendment to the sound ordinance amendment at the Monday meeting. Music is now considered a "by-right," so venues will no longer be required to purchase permits, according to the new measures.
The sound ordinance amendment abolished the rule which enabled police officers to walk up to musicians and ask them to stop playing because of noise control. Now police officers must take sound readings before approaching musicians.
Local musician Peter Markush frequently plays on the Downtown Mall and was informed by a police officer that he was in violation of the noise ordinance. Markush wrote to Council asking to clarify the regulations.
Markush explained that he questioned the purpose of the regulation, asking, "if I was in fact in violation, was that really the intention of the ordinance? Did it really mean to ban fiddle players?"
At a council meeting March 7, he voiced his concerns by playing his fiddle and asking if his music should be illegal. In response, Mayor Dave Norris said he thought the law needed to be re-evaluated.
Jacob Wolf, a local musician and owner of Holy Smokes Booking, organized with business owners, musicians and music advocates to revise the original regulations.
"They passed the amended zoning which was what 95 percent of us in [the] music business were hoping for," Wolf said.
Wolf said he was pleased with the outcome of the Council meeting, but the Belmont area remains an issue.
Businesses in the Belmont area are still subjected to the 2003 permit regulations.
Wolf said because Council approved the sound ordinance amendment and a new zoning change, the changes also should be included in the Belmont area rules and regulations.
Wolf added his group expected to face resistance from the local government. However, "the City Council [was] actually really receptive and responsive," he said. "What we thought was going to be an authoritarian plot turned into a democratic process."
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