Noise from Bar/Restaurant
I am conducting some research on people in primarily residential blocks who have experienced noise coming from a bar/lounge/restaurant within close proximity to their homes. This would include backyard spaces. I saw a few posts from previous years and this year and would like to get some follow-up. Were the noise issues ever resolved? If…
I am conducting some research on people in primarily residential blocks who have experienced noise coming from a bar/lounge/restaurant within close proximity to their homes. This would include backyard spaces. I saw a few posts from previous years and this year and would like to get some follow-up. Were the noise issues ever resolved? If so, how did you approach working on the problem? If not, what was the scenario? Any information you could pass on would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Emanuelle, my friend did as others are describing here. They are explaining the 311 process very well. If you want to expedite the process as my friend did, you can go ahead and hire a noise expert yourself instead of waiting for the DEP to measure the noise levels. (Though you still have to call 311 which is what an attorney will tell you). Then you get your attorney to write a letter to the bar with the noise report attached. You also have to keep detailed records with dates and times of how often the noise occurred and how long. I just don’t know if the same NYC noise code applies to outdoor bar/restaurant people talking noise as it does to what my friend experienced which was indoor music and conversation noise coming up through her floor from a business housed inside her coop building.
There are several things you can do which may help:
Call Marty Markowitz, your local Community Board, 311, DEP, Police, and NY State Liquor Authority. Call them all, and follow up. Try to get the bar owners cell phone number so that you can call him/her directly when things are truly out of hand. Provide your neighbors who are bothered by the noise with the relevant phone numbers – the more complaints, the better. Bar owners/managers will always be polite, offer to buy you free drinks/food, and ultimately ignore you.
At the end of the day you must recognize there is only so much you can do unless the situation is truly extreme – bars/restaurants have a right to exist and make money, and most patrons have zero clue what impact they are having on those living nearby.
The only real long-term solution is to soundproof your windows and/or get a white noise machine, and accept the fact that on certain evenings you simply can’t sleep with the windows open.
If that can help, here is my experience with a ventilation used by a restaurant: it was equivalent to a truck engine on for over15 hours a day: I called 311 explaining the situation, then was directed to the DEP. Made an appointment with them, they measured the noise level, and sure enough,it was way above the accepted noise level set by city rules.
The restaurant was notified,and didn’t do anything, although it was fined several thousands bucks. After the legal 3 months period, I called again,( same process,same noise level measured) and a court order was issued to the restaurant. They finally fixed the noise, few days before the date of appearance.
So, sadly a business is quite reluctant to act on a problem it is causing, but there are solutions.
The DEP coming to the location and evaluating the noise level is free of charge.And they are pretty efficient in taking care of this matter.
More problematic is if the noise is generated by people (using an outdoor space for exemple), not a device. I’m dealing with this now,and it is way less simple to have the DEP act on it, since they consider such a nuisance being of a different category. But they will come inspect the place anyway, if you bring the matter to their agency through 311. I find people helpful at 311, and sometimes very helpful: since I had to call several times, I got some agents quite experienced with such a problem and able to direct me to the appropriate service.
Good luck.
traditionalmod,
Would you be kind and ask your friend to submit more detailed info regarding how she did it?
I think a lot of us that bought apartments near a bar (we bought our place before the bar was there and it is totally a residential street) would spend the money if we knew that it can solve the problem or at least reduce the noise dramatically.
Thanks!
That’s hilarious about crank calling that guy, Brooklynstyle. I agree people who choose to buy homes in busy successful commercial areas can’t expect silent nights. But there is a difference between general noise of people on the streets and a situation where a restaurant is below or adjoining a residence and didn’t bother to install any sound barrier on the ceiling whatsoever. Businesses in all other U.S. cities do it so NYC businesses really need to get with the program. There are laws about the level of noise from bars and restaurants on the books and if anybody has a problem with the laws take it up with the Mayor; meanwhile residents totally have the right to pursue it if an adjoining bar is too noisy.
I know one person who won her fight against a restaurant beneath her in her coop apt. After she was done with them the restaurant had to install soundproofing on their ceiling. The way she did it and it’s the only way to get anything done is to spend a couple thousand hiring somebody to measure the noise so you can prove the offending place or person’s noise is above what the code allows. The restaurant owners know most people won’t spend the money for it so if anybody complains about noise they just shrug it off.
I used to live next door to Angry Wade’s (and down the street from Real House Wife Harpy couple Alex and Simon… what a winning combination!).
It was always loud on weekends, but we knew when we signed the lease that we were committing to living next door to a bar. We asked one of the bartenders to close the door of Wade’s after midnight (I thought that was reasonably late) to keep some of the noise in. She ignored us. The next day, we talked to Wade directly, and we never had a problem again. We dealt with the noise until midnight, and then they would make sure the door wasn’t propped open after that, making it much more quiet. We could still hear music and some noise coming from the bar, but come on, we expected that and dealt with it.
There were always drunks and smokers hanging out right outside our window, and they were always talking and laughing (and sometimes fighting) but I thought it was funnier than anything else. I got a guy’s phone number once who kept drunkenly kept trying to hit on some girl who clearly wasn’t interested, and kept repeating his phone number over and over. I crank called him for weeks afterwards — since he thought it was appropriate to publicly scream his number for an hour between 3 and 4am right outside my window, I figured it was fair game to call him at all hours of the night to wake him up as well.
Seriously… people need to get over themselves with the noise complaints. We sacrificed some privacy and quiet to live in close proximity to tons of shops, restaurants, and bars on Smith St, so we knew we’d have to deal with some noise. Now that I’m an old fart who doesn’t go out anymore, I moved to a quieter, more residential area. You can’t demand great location and proximity to bars, restaurants and services, and then complain about the noise as well.
I live near the back of the former Cattyshack bar, which had a backyard with noisy patrons and loud music coming from the wall of french doors (not very soundsproof choice, no?). I called 311 dozens of times, called the 78th precinct directly many times, went and talked to the managers a few times. I even had the people out the check the decibel levels (what’s their name again?) and nothing. Thank goodness, Cattyshack and its reincarnation closed for good about a year ago, so I’ve had no problems since. All that to say, the laws in NYC strictly support the businesses, not the residents. And, unfortunately, the Bar Great Harry people are supposed to be opening next to the former Cattyshack bar, so here we go again. If you have any success, please post it here, so the rest of us can know what to do. Best of luck!
I used to live over a bar in south slope. The noise was just too much. The bartender did not help so I went to speak with the owner of the bar. This is how it went:
Me: The noise coming out of the bar late at night is just too much.
Bar owner: no its not
Me: yes it is
Bar owner: no its not
Me: yes it is
Bar owner: no its not
Me: yes it is
Bar owner: no its not
Me: yes it is
Bar owner: no its not
Me: yes it is
Bar owner: no its not
Me: yes it is
Bar owner: no its not
Me: yes it is