By Jonathan Phelps
ESSEX — The owners of The Farm Bar & Grille have told selectmen they clearly understand some changes need to be made in the way they provide entertainment in the evenings.
But after the owners outlined six ways they will work to eliminate the noise problem in a Nov. 16 letter addressed to selectmen, the noise complaints have continued. The Essex Police Department received complaints on Thursday and Friday nights of last week about the noise coming from the bar.
Now, selectmen will be meeting with the owners of the Western Avenue establishment and surrounding neighbors Monday to try to work out the issues.
Selectmen also met with the owners and neighbors at their last meeting on Nov. 16. However, on the agenda the item was listed under the name "Paula Filias," who owns an apartment complex across the street and requested the meeting after continued omplaints from her tenants about noise at The Farm.
Nothing on the agenda indicated the talks were related to The Farm.
The owners of the bar, Brad Atkinson, Ryan Cox and Noah Goldstein, said they purchased new soundproofing for the windows that would be ready for installation on Thursday, Nov. 19. They also said they would keep the doors and windows closed, and hired an engineering firm to monitor decibel levels. They said the music would end at 12:30 a.m., which is the last call at the bar — but a half hour later than the selectmen requested they end the music "voluntarily" to address neighbors' concerns.
A visit to the site on Friday night, Nov. 20, showed that the owners had taken steps to limit the sound, and they were monitoring decibel counts across the street. But the lyrics to Madonna's "Like A Virgin" being played inside the restaurant, and the sounds of patrons shouting and laughing, could be clearly heard across the street. That was after a Nov. 10 request from selectmen to The Farm owners that the music should not be heard from "a distance 10 feet from the (building's) Western Avenue-facing windows."
Atkinson stood outside the apartment building with a decibel reader in front of the apartment building showing concern about the music levels.
Filias has said she's had three of her 23 apartments across the street vacated because of the noise which amounts to about 10 percent of her income from the properties.
On Monday, she said, she received several e-mails from her tenants about the noise. She said her residents reported that the music was being played past 12:30 a.m. along with groups of people taking outside and people honking their horns when the leave the property.
She also said at least one other tenant has said he is planning to leave because of the continued noise.
"I do not want to close anyone down," said Filias earlier this week. "I want to create a balance between my business and The Farm so (my tenants) can go to bed at night."
She has suggested The Farm is getting preferential treatment from town officials — noting that the selectmen are giving The Farm a lot of time to fix the problem, while she continues to lose business.
Also, while Essex police release reports about the noise complaint calls, all indicated only that the late-night calls are to a "Western Avenue establishment," without naming the bar. The Farm is the only late-night establishment on Western Avenue.
Selectman Mark Lynch has publicly said that his daughter works at The Farm as an ice cream server and Selectman Ray Randall has publicly disclosed that his stepdaughter is employed as a waitress at The Farm, according to selectmen meeting minutes.
Both have said their connections do not influence their decisions regarding the bar and restaurant. And they have both tried to recuse themselves from previous votes, but Selectmen Chairman Jeffrey Jones invoked the "rule of necessity" to bring about a quorum of the three-member board.
Lynch and Randall voted Sept. 28 to extend the area licensed for drinking alcohol at The Farm to include the "fenced area in the backyard," while Jones voted against the request.
The Farm's problems have not been limited to noise complaints.
In a July incident, four young adults — two from Essex, one from Shrewsbury and one from North Salem, N.Y. — were charged with procuring alcoholic beverages by false representation, and The Farm was found to have allowed 12 guests to drink outside in an area not licensed at the time for the consumption of alcohol. Police confiscated fake IDs from the underage drinkers.
The state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission was to seek "administrative action" against the restaurant, which led to suspension of the alcohol license for 29 days, with 19 days held in "abeyance" for two years provided there are no further violations.
At the Aug. 24 selectmen's meeting, the owners announced they had purchased a scanner to better detect forged or fake identification.
Also, there had been questions over the number of people allowed in the building. However, that has since been taken care of, said Building Inspector Bill Sanborn.
He said the occupancy limit is 99 people inside and out of the bar.
That's a limit that Filias believes the bar often violates.
"This is real, I am not just the nasty old landlord, holding a grudge," she said. "I am the owner, I am responsible for the (apartment) property."
Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3447, or via e-mail at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com
