By Jonathan Phelps
ESSEX — After a public hearing that took about three hours — and drew a crowd of about 80 people to the Essex Elementary School on Wednesday night — the Essex selectmen have tightened the musical reins on The Farm Bar & Grille.
Selectmen Chairman Jeffrey Jones and Selectman Mark Lynch ordered the Western Avenue establishment to limit its music entertainment to just Friday and Saturday nights with a midnight music shutdown — both modifications to the restaurant's entertainment license that take effect immediately.
The Farm's license had previously allowed the restaurant to offer live or recorded music entertainment Monday through Saturday, with a 12:45 a.m. cutoff time.
This change includes New Year Eve, which lands on a Thursday night this year. If the restaurant wants entertainment that night, The Farm's owners will have to request a one-time entertainment license.
The revision also mandates that noise from The Farm not be audible beyond the property line — in The Farm's case, in the road.
The public hearing was called by selectmen to look into the potential "renewal, modification, suspension or revocation" of The Farm's entertainment license after at least a dozen noise complaints had been filed with police — and after Paula Filias of Filias Management, which operates a 23-unit apartment complex across the street, said she received numerous complaints from her tenants about noise at The Farm.
The Wednesday hearing was conducted by Thomas McEnaney of the Boston-based law firm Kopelman and Paige, the town's legal counsel, with Jones and Lynch the only selectmen present. The hearing included testimony from the Police Department and from The Farm Bar & Grille ownership.
Essex Police Chief Peter Silva presented and confirmed that at least 16 complaints have been filed through his department, along with additional noise-related issues observed by officers — such as cars peeling out of the parking lot and patrons screaming.
Detective Ryan Davis and Patrolman Thomas Shamshak recounted the calls responding to noise complaints — noting that each of them responded four times. They said some of the calls warranted complaints; in other cases, the music level seemed "reasonable." Some of the complaints came as a result of the door and windows being open.
Under questioning from Attorney Isaac Wilhelm, representing Filias Management, Silva said he hasn't encountered as many noise complaints as The Farm's tied to a single business since he joined the department in 1988.
Jeffrey Scuteri, a lawyer representing The Farm, noted that many of the complaint were anonymous, while a report he received for the Essex Police Department has the remaining names blacked out. He suggested the calls could be coming from just one or two people.
Filias and three of her tenants from the Essex Falls apartment building testified about the noise in the individual apartments. Filias said she's had three of the 23 apartments across from The Farm vacated because of the noise.
"Some tenants are contemplating whether they are staying or not based on what happens in the future," said Filias.
Chris O'Neil said he's one of them.
"I spoke with Brad (Atkinson) about what he was going to do to keep things quiet, but nothing has really changed," said O'Neil, who lives in one of the apartments. "Their business is doing well, but I am losing sleep."
Karen Birch says shes lives .4 of a mile away from The Farm on Patriots Landing. She said the noise has been an issue there, even though there are trees and houses and other natural sound blockers in between. She said she had to call the police for the first time because of the noise.
"I thought the band was outside, I thought the party was outside," said Birch, recalling that she could hear the lyrics to the Rolling Stones' "Midnight Rambler" from her bedroom that night.
"I've lived there 12 years and never had a problem sleeping because of noise from my neighbors," she said.
About 59 people came out in support of The Farm, many of them wearing apparel bearing the establishment's logo.
Brad Atkinson, one of the owners of The Farm, pointed out that the town doesn't have a bylaw regarding noise constraints and all decisions on noise complaints are only based on opinion.
"We are doing a lot voluntarily to mediate the issue," Atkinson said. "We feel like we are rectifying the issue, doing the best we can — putting forth a lot of effort. I don't think it is unreasonable to have five hours of music a week."
The owners of the bar — Atkinson, Ryan Cox and Noah Goldstein — said they purchased new soundproofing for the windows, they would keep the doors and windows closed, and said they 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 The Farm to "voluntarily" shut down the music in November. Selectmen had also said that the music should not be heard from "a distance 10 feet from the (building's) Western Avenue-facing windows."
Atkinson said that, if The Farm's music hours were cut, it would clearly jeopardize the restaurant's business.
Rebecca Evans who also lives in the Essex Falls apartment building said she has never had an issue with the sound coming from the bar and also noted she rarely goes to the bar across the street.
"I heard some sound but nothing bothersome or unreasonable loud," she said.
Selectman Jones said the selectmen have tried to work out the issues with The Farm in the past.
"But we are still here," said Jones. "The noise complaints have not been resolved to our satisfaction."
The decision to modify the license was only made by Jones and Lynch because Selectman Ray Randall has publicly disclosed that he has a family member who works at The Farm and said he would not be involved in any discussion revolving around The Farm. He was not present at the meeting.
Lynch said he doesn't think the noise issue is a high enough priority for the owners, and said this is one of the main reasons why the modification was made.
"This is not Beverly, this in not Salem," said Lynch. "It is a very difficult location to run this type of business."
Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3447, or via e-mail at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com
